The Unspoken Rule
by xdolphinsmelodyx
Summary: His team was his family, and Jenny knew that was the case from the day she married him. So, when Abby needed him, he was there for her no matter what, and she understood that. However, what she didn't prepare for was the hard fight ahead of the team and how much strain the situation would put on her marriage… Teamfic. AU - Jenny not ill & survived Judgement Day, Franks didn't.
1. It's not like I'm dying

Chapter 1: "It's not like I'm dying…"

Director Shepard was a stubborn individual and everyone in the agency knew it. No matter how tired she was, no matter how bad she felt for any particular reason, if there was work to be done, she would not stop until it was complete. That always had been and always would be the case. No matter what anybody said, not even her husband, she was never going to change her ways. Director Shepard would never stop until the job was done.

Nine times out of ten she could deal with her stubborn streak, a streak she was never consciously aware of most of the time, but as she sat in her office that day, skimming through paperwork in which the words seemed to be swimming across the page, she deeply resented it. For what had seemed like hours, her nose had been repeatedly refilling to a point where she was struggling to breathe, and blowing her nose every few seconds certainly wasn't aiding her already throbbing head.

It was highly unlike her to get ill, a trait her husband also seemed to share, but at that time she was not able to say that. Whatever was happening, whatever was wrong, it was certainly knocking her about.

"Director." her Secretary's voice shattered through the silence of the room, "Agent Gibbs is on his way up."

Usually that particular sentence would have filled her with warmth, strange considering when she became Director six years beforehand the two of them always seemed to be a loggerheads. Despite knowing him for a while before that, they always seemed to clash, maybe because of _how_ well they knew each other. Although, since their marriage two years beforehand, his little five minutes visits when he popped up to her office were some of her favourite moments of the day, especially when there was a case ongoing. However, on that particular day, one of his visits was the last thing she wanted.

"Tell him I'm busy, Cynthia…" she requested, "Please..." she added almost silently.

Before her secretary even had a chance to respond, Jenny's door burst open due to Gibbs' famous habit of forgetting how doors worked. Even since they had married, he'd never quite mastered the art of knocking and waiting to enter, at least not at the office at the very least.

"Busy with what…?" he smirked, something which soon dropped when he caught sight of her, "Jesus Jen, you look awful."

She immediately felt his eyes glue to every part of her body simultaneously, making her want to do nothing more than hide herself from him. She was a mess and she was sure that was obvious.

"A woman loves to hear that, Jethro." she joked weakly, doing her best to smile before ultimately having to blow her nose once again.

Closing the door behind him before moving over to her desk with only a couple of majestic strides, Gibbs perched himself against it. He immediately moved to feel his wife's sticky forehead, soon aware of the heat against his calloused hand. He then proceeded to wipe her vibrant, red hair out of her face.

Feeling helpless in his arms, especially as he began to hold the back of her head and gently massaging his fingers through a patch of her hair, Jenny rolled her eyes a little. However, she couldn't deny it, she appreciated the gesture.

"Jethro, stop…" she croaked in a pleading manner, something he blatantly ignored.

"Your not well, Jen." he stated worriedly.

Pulling away from his grip, Jenny once again had to blow her nose into yet another tissue, something which aggravated her head to throb further. Giving herself a moment to let the sudden pain subside, Jenny bent her neck to look up at her doting husband sat in front of her. His eyes alone were enough to make her feel worse than she already did. There he was, growing more and more concerned by the minute, and she knew nothing she said to him was going to change it.

"Its flu, Jethro." she pointed out, "It's not like I'm dying."

Leaning forward to kiss the top of her head, Gibbs sighed deeply.

"Go home, Jen." he whispered into her hair, "Go to bed."

Receiving one of what his team would call a 'Gibbs-glare', something she had learnt to nail pretty early on in their relationship; Gibbs tried his hardest to smile. However, his concern for her was much too great at that moment in time.

"I can hold down the fort for a day or two." he pointed out before she had the chance to argue with him, "Go home, Jen… please…"

* * *

Needless to say, Gibbs didn't get his wish and Jenny remained put in her office, something which didn't really surprise him. He was worried, he couldn't deny that, but he had to push that aside and focus on the case: the murder of Petty Officer Clarissa Bentley. The poor woman, who had been on leave, was found dead her home in Charlottesville. Her petite body was unmercifully battered and bruised, the injuries initially hiding the three bullet wounds in her chest. It was clear from police reports that the young woman had suffered abuse at the hand of her so-called fiancé, the team's original suspect. However, CCTV evidence placed the man in question, a Jeffery Marcus, at a bar of the day of the murder. There had been no forced entry at the Petty Officer's house, no obvious signs of struggle… she clearly knew her killer, and Gibbs was going to find him. Of that, he was sure.

Arriving at the floor of Abby's lab, CafPow in hand, the first thing Gibbs noticed was the abnormal silence. For some reason, he had to take a few steps closer to the lab door just to make sure he was right and that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him… and he was. There was no music playing, not at all. That was the first clue that something wasn't right.

"Abby…?" he called lowly, unsure what to expect as he entered the lab.

The first thing he noticed upon entering was the dark-haired woman in front of him jump sharply, clearly startled by his sudden appearance. Part of him expected a typical Abby comment something along the lines of her going to put a bell around his neck, but it never came. All that happened was that she turned to him and smiled so softly he almost missed it.

"Hey Gibbs." she greeted almost silently before turning back to her computer.

Gibbs' brow dropped in response and he crossed the floor to reach her computer, all her actions concerning him further. He was already worried about Jenny upstairs, now Abby was apart of that equation too.

Gibbs honestly didn't understand… Abby was usually the happy, lively member of the team, the one he could count on to make him smile during a particularly depressing case. Her usual, vibrant spirit could do that to a person. Granted, it may have been a little annoying how she tended to get easily sidetracked from time to time but that was part of the Abby he knew and loved…

"I processed the gun Tony brought down." she explained, pointing out the weapon to him, "It's a dead on match for the bullets pulled from our Petty Officer, and her killer: the biggest amateur I've ever seen."

Gibbs nodded slowly, unable to even try to smile. However, it didn't matter since her eyes remained glued to the screen.

"What makes ya say that?" he questioned.

"It was plastered with prints that hadn't even been tried to be wiped away." she explained, tapping away at her keyboard, "I pulled them and ran them through AFIS."

Gibbs nodded softly. "You gotta match?" he asked.

With the slightest of nods, Abby tapped a single button on her keyboard. As a result, a Navy ID popped up on the screen.

"Commander George Thomas… Bentley." Gibbs read, his heart dropping into his stomach.

Abby nodded sadly, a deep sigh escaping her lips. "Her father." she confirmed.

Leaning over to kiss the side of her face, Gibbs placed the large plastic cup down in front of her, earning the first genuine smile of the day from his forensic scientist. CafPow: the best reward possible in the young Goth's eyes. Picking it up, she smiled and was just about to take a sip through the thick red straw but instead she turned to face him, unsure as to what he was waiting for.

"What is it, Gibbs?" she asked, facing him fully for the first time that day.

Initially he had remained in the hope to see what was bothering her but as she turned, he saw three, dark bruises on the side of her face, bruises which certainly didn't look like the result of a small bump.

His eyes ultimately widened and his eyebrows shot up in concern.

"Are you okay?" he questioned, his eyes trailing across them, "What happened?"

Abby automatically frowned in response. _What was he on about?_ She had expected him to ask her why she looked as tired as she felt, not what happened… _what did he mean by that?_

"What do ya mean?" she asked, "I guess I'm a little tired, but nothing's _'happened'_… Why'd ya ask?"

As she spoke, Gibbs glanced at her bear arms in front of him, the ones slightly extended as she was holding up her cup. He soon spotted they too were dotted with bruises, all of slightly different sizes and in a range of slightly different colours, indicating they weren't all the same age.

"Gibbs?" she asked uncertainly, unnerved by his silence.

Breaking away from the spots on her arms, Gibbs looked back up at her face, doing his best not to look directly at the bruises near her hairline. Whatever they were from, she obviously didn't want to talk to him about them… maybe another time. He wasn't going to push her.

"Thanks, Abbs." he nodded, leaving the lab in a rather quick pace.

Due to his concern for her which was mounting by the minute, Gibbs failed to notice a rather confused Abby finally take the first sip of her CafPow as he was already in the elevator. Therefore, he certainly failed to notice her full-on gag as she took a sip of her beloved beverage. The usual caffeinated taste definitely wasn't the one hitting the taste buds on her dry tongue. Never before had she disliked CafPow but that day, she couldn't say that. For the first time ever, CafPow was not working its usual caffeinated magic…

"Eww…" she muttered to herself, "Go…" she ordered absentmindedly to the beverage, throwing the large plastic cup into the bin before returning to work.

* * *

Gibbs didn't bother to watch DiNozzo handcuff the Petty Officer's father after the successful interrogation from the younger agent. He had much more important things to be getting on with. His most immediate concern was getting his wife home. If earlier had been any indication, saying she didn't look well was one of the biggest understatements of the year.

The idea that a man could kill his own flesh and blood was something that still sickened him, despite the fact he had been a NCIS Agent for so many years. He didn't understand how any father could take his own little girl's life. He'd have given absolutely anything to have one more day with his daughter.

In the squad room, Agent McGee and Officer David sat writing up their reports. Both looked up and smiled as Gibbs walked to his desk, something he returned in the form of a nod before leaning down to his desk draw and retrieving his car keys. Leaving his desk and heading towards the stairs up to the catwalk, Gibbs looked between the two of them.

"Ziva, McGee." he called, "Go home."

Hopping up the steps two-by-two, the two agents remained almost shell shocked at their Boss' most recent order as he disappeared into the Director's office on the upper floor.

"Did… did he just say what I think he said?" McGee genuinely had to ask.

Ziva slowly turned her head, her eyebrows still up in her hairline.

"I believe so." she admitted before pausing momentarily and leaning forward, "Do you think this is some sort of test?"

Walking quickly up to his desk, seeming to appear out of nowhere, Tony shrugged his shoulders and laughed to himself.

"Let's just go before he changes his mind." he stated, roughly grabbing his things en route towards the elevator.

Finding herself miraculously agreeing with him, Ziva swiftly grabbed her belongings and manoeuvred around her desk, narrowly missing nicking her thigh off the corner. The pair then began to hurriedly make their way to the elevator, leaving McGee the only person left in the squad room.

"C'mon, McGeek!" Tony called after a moment, "I'm not holdin' this thing open forever!"

Meanwhile, Gibbs strode past Cynthia's empty desk and entered his wife's office, only to find the woman in question asleep at her desk, using a stack of files as a primitive pillow. Her skin looked much paler than it had before but on the plus size, her laboured breathing did not appear to be as bad as it had been earlier that day.

Smiling slightly as he softly closed the door, Gibbs silently crossed the room towards her desk, perching himself on the edge. His hand came up to her face and began to caress her head gently, trying to wake her softly.

"Jen…" he whispered lightly.

Jenny soon began to stir, to the point that within a few moments, she managed to lift her head. Greeted by her husband's gentle face, she sighed before sitting up and stretching out her neck.

"Jethro…" she breathed.

"Case's done." he told her with a soft smile, "Ready to come home now?"

Jenny tried to laugh but her nose suddenly filling up stopped her from doing so.

"Take it I don't have much choice." she smiled, quickly reaching for a tissue.

Leaning forward to kiss her head, Gibbs smiled against her hair.

"C'mon." he whispered.

The next morning, the three agents, DiNozzo, McGee and David, all arrived in the squad room in a rather refreshed manner. Despite the fact they actually didn't get anymore sleep than they would have anyway, the fact that Gibbs had let them go earlier seemed to have had a psychological effect on them all, for some reason making them feel like they'd slept forever.

Jenny on the other hand was a completely different story. She had hoped that taking a couple of paracetamol before bed and having a good night sleep would have helped ease the symptoms of the particularly nasty bout of flu she had acquired. However, due to her problem doing the simplest task of breathing normally thanks to her blocked nose, her good night sleep was a certain fantasy rather than reality. The majority of the night, other than sticking to the bed sheets and repeatedly feeling her nose fill to a brink she didn't even know was possible, she found herself almost crying in frustration…

By sunrise, she was ridiculously tired and felt awful as she had been keeping Gibbs up most the night with her. She already felt physically bad enough but keeping him awake just made her feel worse, not that it bothered him. To be fair, he had expected it, knowing what kind of state she was in. It seemed that whenever Jenny got sick, she _got _sick. He guessed that that made up for all the other times she never had any health problems whatsoever.

Entering the squad room that morning, his third cup of coffee firmly gripped in his hand, Gibbs headed over to his desk, catching DiNozzo's passing comment about feeling utterly refreshed and happy as he approached.

"You won't be if you don't get that report on my desk pronto, DiNozzo." he stated as he passed by, internally amused how the younger agent shot up on his chair and began fiddling with his computer.

"On it, boss." he promised.

Meanwhile, McGee and Ziva, who was leaning against McGee's desk, continued their conversation, satisfied they were safe to do so since their reports were already done and awaiting Gibbs' approval before being sent up to the Director's office.

"I am just saying, McGee." Ziva continued, "Her behaviour is rather unusual. Not only has she been throwing away _full _CafPow's, I do not believe she went home last night. Something is clearly buzzing her…"

"Bugging, Ziva." Tony corrected, obviously listening in on the conversation when he should have been working.

Rolling his eyes, McGee sighed softly before turning back to face Ziva.

"But surely she'd say something if there was a problem." he stated.

Ziva sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, maybe not to us." she pointed out, "But perhaps Gibbs…"

As soon as the words had left her mouth, both she and McGee turned their heads to look at the said man's desk. However, as they should have expected, it was empty. Upon a further glace, the pair noticed he wasn't even in the actual room... It didn't take a genius to figure out where he was going.

* * *

Once again, Gibbs noticed that Abby's lab was music-free when he reached it. The only difference compared to the day before was that that time there was a small noise coming from inside, a noise he soon discovered was a slight wheeze coming from the sleeping scientist at the computer station.

It was clear from the position she was in that she'd been there a while, her head resting gently upon her bruise-spotted arms. Also, since her hair looked rather messy and the clothes she was wearing were identical to the ones she had been in the day before, Gibbs was rather concerned that Ziva's belief was accurate.

"Abby?" he asked gently, before ultimately raising his voice, "Abby!"

With a large gasp, the young woman's heavy eyes snapped open and shot up on her seat, clearly a little dazed due to the abrupt awakening she had just received. It took a few moments before she finally turned to face him, the bruises on the side of her face not as prominent as they had been the day before.

"Gibbs…" she breathed out.

"Abbs?" he asked, his frown falling far while his teeth sunk into his inner lip, "Have… have you been here all night?"

Worried was more than what he was but the young forensic scientist was completely oblivious, mostly since her eyes were still adapting to light invading through the windows on her left.

"What… what time is it?" she managed to ask, struggling to speak properly for a moment.

"0800." Gibbs answered.

"Oh…" Abby whispered before stretching out her back, "Then yeah."

Gibbs sighed deeply. "Abbs, why on earth didn't you go home?" he asked, "What's goin' on?"

"Nothing… I swear." she promised quickly, "I was just…"

Alerted by her sudden pause, Gibbs felt the knot in his stomach tighten.

"Just what?" he queried.

Abby sighed. "Tired…" she confessed.

Seeing the pain suddenly displayed on her face, Gibbs felt his teeth once again return to the tender spot on his inner lip.

"Oh, Abbs…" he whispered, bringing his hand to her forehead, "You're really warm."

Abby shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe I'm coming down with something." she suggested.

Gibbs nodded. "Yeah, Jenny's got a bout of flu." he explained, "She had a rough night and hopefully today she'll see sense and stay in bed… maybe its just something that's goin' 'round."

Abby laughed slightly, soon hindered by an oncoming yawn.

"Yeah." she managed to agree after a moment, "A few of the guys in HR have had something too over the last few days."

Gibbs nodded once again, leaning down to kiss her messy black hair.

"Abbs, go home. Get yourself sorted out." he told her, "I doubt there'll be a case for a while. If there is, I'll let you know. Deal?"

Abby sighed once again, smiling up at him as she felt her tired eyes begin twitch.

"Thanks, Gibbs…"

* * *

Abby had been lucky when she called her doctor after going home that morning since she'd managed to get an appointment with him the following day. For a few days she had been feeling off, but falling asleep in her lab was the last straw. Something wasn't right and it was time to get it checked out.

She had actually surprised herself at how she had allowed herself to call the doctor. Usually she would have been her strong, stubborn self and let her illness take its natural cause. When she had realised that a bout of flu had been going around HQ, she was more than happy to believe that was what it was. However, as the days had progressed and her symptoms had only gotten worse rather than better, she'd finally decided enough was enough.

Sat in Doctor Isafie's office opposite to the middle-aged man dressed in his typical lightly striped shirt, Abby shuffled in her seat and continued to play with her fingernails nervously. His tapping on the keyboard of his computer was a little daunting despite the fact she actually liked the man. She just hated doctors' appointments.

"So Miss Sciuto…" he began.

"Abby." she clarified, "Its Abby."

Dr. Isafie nodded slightly and smiled. "Abby." he corrected, "Other than your fatigue, headaches, loss of appetite and general weakness, is there any other symptoms you can think of?"

Abby shook her head. "N-No, I don't think so." she admitted, "Do you have any idea what it could be?"

The doctor smiled and leant back on his chair, easing a little of the tension beginning to build up inside of her.

"Well, you mentioned that there's flu going around your workplace, it could be that." he explained.

"But it could also be something else…" Abby stated, subconsciously rubbing her bare arms, capturing Dr. Isafie's attention in the process.

"Tell me, how long have you had those bruises?" he enquired.

Frowning, Abby looked down at her arms which were where he was looking. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw the amount. Granted she could remember seeing a couple and dismissing them as gentle knocks she had gotten when manoeuvring around her lab, however, there were much more present than she had realised.

"I… I'm not sure." she confessed.

The doctor nodded softly to himself. "I think it would be best to run some tests." he began, "Just in case."

"In case of what?" asked Abby, suddenly becoming very apprehensive, "It's not like I'm dying… right?"

"Miss Sciuto…" the doctor sighed, "The tests are to rule out anything serious, and hopefully find out what's making you feel the way you do in the process. It's really nothing to worry about."

Abby sighed deeply, nodding very slowly. "Okay…" she agreed after a long moment, "What do we do first?"

Dr. Isafie smiled softly at her. "We'll start with a blood test." he explained, "Then we can take it from there."


	2. Please, tell me

Chapter 2: "Please, tell me…"

"Ducky…" Gibbs warned for the second time, knowing that it wouldn't be the last time since the good Scottish doctor seemed to be on a role with his latest story about the first time he has autopsied a man who had been killed by an 'uppercut'.

To be honest, he had stopped listening after a while, letting Ducky's voice become a blur as the old man continued on his merry way. He'd only come down to figure out the cause of death of their latest victim, Lieutenant Tommy Kendall. He guessed it had something to do with an 'uppercut' though, evidently what had caused Dr. Mallard's latest story, but he still had to wait for the confirmation.

"… And then…" Ducky continued.

"Duck, please." Gibbs almost begged, interrupting the good old doctor's next leg of the story, "What happened to our Lieutenant?"

Ducky turned to the other aged man in the room, quickly aware of the speed in which he was to change the subject back to the case in hand.

"Well Jethro," he began, directing him to the x-ray machine on the wall, "As I suspected in my preliminary findings, the victim's vertebrae was shattered by swift, sharp strike to the bottom of the jaw. The force caused his head to snap backwards, killing the poor fellow almost instantly."

"Professional hit, Duck?" he queried.

"As there were no obvious defensive wounds, I'd say so, yes. The poor fellow didn't see it coming." Ducky explained, "Which leads me to conclude something else about this poor man's death…"

"He knew his killer." Gibbs stated.

"Precisely," Ducky concurred, "Trusted him enough to look him in the eye."

That was the last thing Gibbs heard before he left the room…

* * *

Returning swiftly to the squad room, he was rather surprised to see all of his team, including DiNozzo, hard at work. He was just about to sit down at his desk when he noticed a familiar face watching him from the catwalk, a face he couldn't help but smile up at.

He couldn't deny it, was rather glad Jenny had returned to work, finally recovering from her spell of flu. Granted she wasn't one hundred percent but she was definitely much better in herself, and the fact that he could give her back all the paperwork he'd been dumped with for the better half of the week was music to his ears. He had to be honest; he finally could see why he preferred the job title of 'Field Agent' and not 'Director'.

Stood leaning against the bar, her long red hair draped around her face, he soon noticed her call him up to her office, only using her angelic green eyes to do so. He responded almost immediately, vacating his desk and reporting upstairs to _the boss._

As soon as he was gone, the rest of the agents stopped typing and looked between each other.

"So, have you noticed anything strange about her lately, Tony?" Ziva enquired, continuing the conversation the three of them had been having before Gibbs returned from autopsy.

Tony shrugged his shoulders, trying to think about a witty comeback or movie reference he could use as his response. However, even he couldn't deny that both Ziva and McGee's concerns about a certain forensic scientist were justified. As of late, Abby certainly hadn't been the Abby Sciuto they all knew and loved.

"She is kinda quiet." he admitted, "I'll be honest; I'm starting to miss hearing her music playing every time I go downstairs… its strange going into a silent lab."

"I know." seconded McGee, looking down at his keyboard in the process, "It's like she's swapped places with someone else…"

"Stop stressing, Probie." Tony stated, "Everyone's entitled to a bad day. She'll more than likely be back to the same old Abby we know very soon. She'll be playing _Brain Matter _and chugging back CafPow in no time... _She'll be back!_"

Ignoring Tony's terrible impression from _Terminator_, Ziva shook her head.

"Yes, but for a month?" she queried, "I know people can have bad days but this is getting a little extreme, don't you think?"

Tony sighed deeply. "I suppose..." he agreed slowly, "And I did see wearing a hospital band the other day."

Tim's face immediately supported a deep frown. Turning to look towards the senior field agent on the desk adjacent to him, he felt a knot in his stomach begin to tighten. He certainly hadn't noticed that… _how could he not have noticed that?!_

Ziva nodded softly. "And she has lost a lot of weight." she put forward, "I mean, she was already rather slim, but now…"

Tim sighed, thinking about the last time he had seen Abby properly. Thinking back, she hadn't really been her usual self then either.

"And she's got bruises all over her… on her arms, legs, her back…" he said aloud.

Tony's attention was suddenly hooked as McGee spoke, a small smirk beginning to grace his lips.

"And you know this… _how, _Probie?" DiNozzo questioned.

Rolling his eyes and allowing them to tighten, McGee show a deep glare over at Tony, soon making him loose his smirk.

"My point is that she seems to have more every time I see her…" he explained, "That's not normal…"

Sighing, both Tony and Ziva had to agree with McGee's latest point. Not really wanting to speculate or continue the conversation any further, the three of them got back to work. Any minute now, they knew Gibbs was going to appear and they needed answers before he did.

Meanwhile, on the upper floor, both Director Shepard and her husband made their way to her office. Closing the door behind him, Gibbs stole a quick kiss from his wife's lips before allowing her to escape to her desk and putting his professional hat on.

"Yes, Director?" he asked, trying his best not to mirror the smirk on Jenny's face.

Rolling her eyes before leaning forward on her desk, Jenny sighed before she too presented a more professional attitude towards him.

"How's the case of Lt. Kendall going?" she asked him, Director to Agent.

Gibbs nodded slowly. "Going." he answered smoothly, "Ducky said his killer's a pro."

"Some kind of assassin?" she enquired.

Gibbs shrugged his shoulders, edging closer to her desk.

"Don't know." he confessed, "Possibly."

"Do you know why he was killed?" the Director questioned further.

"Nope." he answered simply.

"Any suspects?" she asked.

"Nope." he repeated.

Jenny sighed, leaning back in her chair. "Anything you do know?" she queried.

Gibbs looked around briefly, still edging closer. "I know that… this room is awfully hot, I know that Ducky knows way too much trivia and I know that DiNozzo is being too well behaved today. That's concerning me." he answered.

Jenny shook her head, trying her best not to be amused by his response as she leant forward on her desk, still looking up at him.

"This is serious, Jethro." she pointed out.

"I know that, Jen," he countered, leaning his hands on her desk and lowering his head closer to her face, "And I will tell you everything I know once I know myself…"

Stealing another chaste kiss as he leant further down, he felt Jenny smile against his mouth before he pulled back slowly.

"Now, is that all you wanted, _Director_?" he asked with a smug grin.

"For now." she agreed, her lips mirroring a similar grin, "Thank you, _Agent _Gibbs."

Nodding softly, Gibbs stood fully up and begun to make his way to her door, only to have to stop once he reached it due to her speaking.

"Jethro?"

As soon as he had turned his head to look over at her, Jenny raised her fist softly, concentrating deeply to remember how her husband had taught her how to sign. Pointing out her thumb, index finger and pinkie, she half turned her hand and back twice, earning a large smile from him in response.

"Love you too." he whispered before turning to leave her office. After all, he had a case to finish.

* * *

In her lab, Abby was sat at her computer, anxiously awaiting the results of the second DNA search of the day: Lt. Kendall's killer. After hearing from the team that the killer had military training, Abby was able to limit her search to the military personnel in the AFIS database. However, it was still taking a rather long time to find for a match.

As she sat there, aware of the sudden headache building, Abby momentarily closed her eyes. It had been six days since her first doctor's appointment with Dr. Isafie, three since he called her back in for another test to check her bone marrow under general anaesthesia. After that test, her mind had been working on overtime, terrifying her with the only possibility she could think of that he was testing for. It took her quite a while to realise he only did the second test to rule out anything serious. There really wasn't anything for her to worry too much about. After all, like he had told her at the second appointment, patients always assumed the worst.

The pain in her hip from the biopsy was still noticeable but nowhere near as bad as it had been. She was just grateful that her appointment to get her results was later that day. She'd had enough of not knowing. Granted she was a little nervous but she was definitely more than ready to find out what was wrong with her.

With her head resting on her palm, she was rather relieved to feel the growing headache suddenly fade, something she was more than grateful for. However, as she looked up and continued to stare at the screen, the one still rapidly filing through the millions of ID files; it didn't take her long to notice a strange new feeling. It was then that she heard the soft patter of a soft liquid spotting her desk and it took mere seconds for her to realise that the new feeling was her nose running wildly.

Rolling her eyes and putting her left hand to her nose, she reached for a tissue with her right one. When she finally managed to replace her hand with it, she was more than caught off guard when she saw her hand plastered with bright red blood.

"Oh, crap…" she muttered, letting out a frustrated moan before securing her nose with the tissue and leaning her head back slightly. She then began to reach for more tissues in order to wipe away the excess blood from her hands.

Wrestling with the bloody tissues beginning to pile up on her desk, Abby felt her patience wear deadly thin, something which was soon tested when she heard the elevator ping. Gibbs' familiar footsteps soon followed and at that moment, it was the last thing she wanted.

"Whatcha got for me, Abbs?" Gibbs began to ask from outside in the corridor, something that immediately halted as when he reached the door, he only saw two things: Abby and blood, "Abby?!"

As he rushed over to her side, Abby shook her head really softly, trying to keep the blood pouring from her nose contained within the current tissue.

"It's just a nosebleed, Gibbs." she explained lightly.

Just to add to the hectic moment of her trying to find another blood-free tissue, the computer in front of her began to sound, promptly displaying an ID upon the screen.

"Typical…" she hissed, ultimately struggling to hold her nose and find a tissue at the same time, resulting in more blood falling down onto her desk, "I wait all day for a match and it decides to come along now!"

Sighing, Gibbs smiled weakly down at her, unsure what to make of the situation.

"Here, Abbs." he offered, holding a clean tissue to her nose while she proceeded to wipe her hands free from blood.

"Thanks…" she muttered, slightly embarrassed about the situation she found herself in.

Bringing up the ID fully on the screen, Abby looked up at Gibbs before taking the tissue from him, gently wiping her nose. She soon found herself smiling when she saw her bleeding had come to a halt.

"Finally…" she sighed before looking between Gibbs and the screen, "Well, there's your match, Gibbs. Petty Officer Rico Stave… Isn't he the Lieutenant's roommate?"

Gibbs sighed and nodded. "He was…" he trailed off, "The lying bastard… Thanks, Abbs."

Leaning down to kiss her head, something Abby found herself treasuring more than usual, Gibbs took a final look over her, still sitting at her chair and wiping her hands with the breaking tissue.

"You sure you're okay?" he questioned.

Abby nodded. "Promise." she swore to him, "It was_ just_ a nosebleed."

Sighing softly, Gibbs nodded down at her. "Thanks." he repeated as he exited the lab, leaving Abby and bunch of bloody tissues behind him.

* * *

It was later that day, once the Petty Officer had been arrested for the murder of Lt. Kendall, when Gibbs decided to head out for coffee. It was too early to head home but with the case finished with, he didn't feel too bad to disappear for ten minutes.

Stepping onto the elevator, he was presently surprised to Abby already inside; heading from the upper floor to what he guessed was the ground floor.

"Abbs… where you going?" he enquired.

Gulping, she briefly looked down her feet before answering him.

"No-Nowhere important… just out." she explained, "I've cleared it with Director Shepard."

Gibbs sighed and smiled softly. "I'm not going to report you if you haven't, Abby." he pointed out, attempting to lighten the mood, "I was just wondering, that's all. You don't tend to leave this early."

Shrugging her shoulders, the young scientist fell into a deep silence as the elevator began to move. Gibbs was unsure whether or not to question her while they were alone, and after a moment, his concern got the better of him… He ended up flicking the emergency stop switch, halting the elevator rather sharply and immediately making Abby gulp silently.

"What's goin' on, Abbs?" he asked as he turned to face her.

Sighing, Abby shook her head lightly. "Gibbs, if this is about earlier…" she began.

"Its not that." he clarified, his expression fixed on his face.

Abby found herself gulping again. "Then what?" she asked, aware that her appointment was approaching rapidly and that she needed their conversation to end very soon.

Sighing deeply, clearly toying with the words on his tongue, Gibbs finally spoke.

"Where are all the bruises from?" he asked, deeply regretting it a moment later for being so blunt.

Abby laughed lightly and yet a little nervously too. "What?" she tried to dismiss lightly.

"Your arms and legs are dotted with bruises. Last week you had some down the side of your face and they aren't all recent, some are older than others." he explained frankly, "Where are they from?"

Abby heaved a sigh. "Gibbs…" she tried to reason with.

"Abby, please… tell me." Gibbs practically begged, interrupting her, "Tell me what's going on…"

Abby found herself shuffling on the spot, her mind plagued with scenarios but truthfully, she couldn't answer. She genuinely didn't know what to say to him.

"I don't know." she confessed almost silently, "I _really_ don't know…"

Gibbs' posture and face remained deadly cool as he asked the next question.

"Has someone hurt you?" he queried, "Is that why you won't go home?" he added quickly.

Abby's eyes widened significantly as she felt her heart pound in her chest.

"No!" she assured him instantly, "God, no… Is-Is that what you think?!"

"Promise me." he silently begged, ignoring her question.

"I swear, Gibbs." she promised, seeing the raw pain on his face, pain she was causing him, "I don't know where they're from but I promise you that nobody's hurt me…"

Feeling her eyes water and back of her throat begin to sting, Abby pulled him into a deep hug, a hug which he returned in a way he never had before. It was almost like he was afraid to let go, afraid she'd vanish if he did.

"I'm so sorry, Gibbs." she apologised, "I'm so sorry for making you think that…"

* * *

Director Shepard was rather glad to have ditched her security detail, even if it was only for a few minutes. She knew that when they found her they would not be happy; neither would her husband who they would inform about her _little disappearance _when she returned home. However, just having five minutes to herself outside of her office and actually out in the real world was something she had no intention of wasting. Besides, she had something she needed to do.

Part of her had forgotten just how big the streets of DC were. She supposed that being chauffeured around all the time was the reason. However, she still knew exactly how far away her desired destination was. After all, she did tend to pop to the local pharmacy quite often, especially when she was in need of some paracetamol or aspirin.

By the time her two bodyguards had found her and escorted her to the waiting car, she was all done with what she needed and was mentally preparing herself for the lectures she was more than likely about to receive. Sometimes it did seem a little unfair; she was a grown woman who knew very well how to handle herself, being a field agent did that to a person. However, the famous comeback from everybody else always reminded her she was the Director of a Federal Agency; that meant she was a valuable target for quite a large number of people out there.

Arriving home at the little townhouse her husband had lived in long before they had got together, she was rather surprised to find the door locked. It was something she tended to do before leaving for work, despite the fact Jethro still argued against it. However, as she had come home to find it locked, it meant he wasn't home yet… strange.

Happy though that her bodyguards wouldn't have to explain her disappearing act to him, Jenny wished the pair a safe journey home before going inside. The first things that came off were her shoes, ungracefully kicked off the second her feet were through the door. The next was her jacket, removed and then draped over her arm as she ran upstairs to change into her slacks. She was done with work for the day, a dangerous declaration since it meant that she'd have more work to do the following day but honestly, she really didn't care.

She soon seemed to be doing everything at once: changing into her black sweatpants and NIS top she had acquired from her husband a long time ago, starting to cook dinner and attempting to call Gibbs to find out where he was. She also used that time to try and find out something which had been toying with her mind over the last few days, especially after recovering from her bout of flu.

After about fifteen minutes to herself and no contact with her husband, Jenny had finally confirmed her suspicions. Trying her best not to get caught up with it, she made her way down to the kitchen to continue with dinner. She had only been in there for a few minutes when she heard something clatter in the basement, something she guessed was metal and heavy judging by the sound it made.

Immediately on guard, Jenny slowly moved to the basement door and quietly opened it. Peeking inside, she couldn't see anything unusual other than the light downstairs in the far corner being switched on.

"Hello…?" she called, taking a cautious step inside.

She edged closer to the banister, examining the area in which Gibbs' wood projects usually remained. At that time he was building yet another boat and it was the frame which filled the space down there.

"Jethro?" she called out.

It was then that she heard another clattering of metal underneath her. Suddenly wishing she had access to a weapon other than her hands, Jenny swiftly moved and glanced over the banister. Seeing her husband there instead of some armed intruder sure did ease the fast beating of her heart but she definitely couldn't contain her surprise.

"Hey, Jen." he greeted lightly, reaching to pick up one of his tool boxes which had tried to escape off the top shelf, "You're home."

"_You're _home." she stated, running her hand through over her hair to keep it out of her face as she looked down at her husband.

"Well," he smirked, "Now that we've both pointed out the obvious…"

Jenny sighed deeply, shaking her head in a state of disbelief. "How long you been down here?" she enquired.

Gibbs shrugged his shoulders, double checking that the toolbox was secure that time.

"'Bout two hours." he answered, satisfied it was before leaning back against the boat frame, "You?"

"Half a hour." she told him, "Why'd ya lock the door? You _never _lock the door."

Gibbs couldn't help but scoff slightly. "You've asked me to start locking the door…" he pointed out.

"While the house is empty when we're at work." she reminded him, "I didn't mean when you were actually in."

Gibbs began to smile to himself. "I can't win." he laughed.

Jenny shifted her weight so she was leaning against the banister.

"You're right about that one…" she smirked before changing the subject, "Where's ya cell? I tried calling..."

Gibbs laughed slightly, a hint of annoyance appearing on his face as he gestured over towards the workbench near to the light in the far corner. Following his direction, it didn't take her long to notice the remains what used to be a cell phone near to a wooden mallet upon the counter.

"Oh…" she trailed off, "Hope I didn't cause that."

Gibbs found himself chuckling, adamantly shaking his head.

"No way." he promised, "It's that new… polygraph woman."

Jenny frowned slightly. "Lara Swift… why's she calling you?" she quizzed.

Gibbs shook his head and folded his arms across his chest, clearly wound up by the woman.

"She wants me to _retake_ my polygraph test since my last file seems to be _incomplete._" he explained, emphasising certain words which showed his growing frustration, "Don't think she's got the message yet that I ain't doin' it."

"Oh…" Jenny repeated, giggling herself before sighing deeply.

Looking down on him from her position, she could see something wasn't fully right, and it wasn't the calls from Miss Swift. She could see that something was bothering him, perhaps just as much as Jenny was being bothered by something she had discovered earlier that evening.

"You okay?" she asked after a moment, catching a glimpse of his strangely dull eyes, "You seem… worried..."

Gibbs sighed loudly. "Why would I be worried?" he asked dryly, a tiny smile on his lips.

"Why wouldn't you?" she countered, smiling softly down at him, moving all of her hair to drape over only one of her shoulders.

Finding himself smiling softly at her words, Gibbs tried his best not to appear surprised. He really did hate how Jenny could read him like an open book at any time, whether he wanted her to be able to or not.

Quirking his eyebrow, Gibbs smirked up at her. "Smells good." he commented, deliberately avoiding her question, "What's cooking?"

Laughing a little and rolling her eyes, Jenny grinned down at him playfully. She'd obviously reached something that he didn't want to talk to her about, not yet at least.

"If you wanna find out, you better come to the kitchen and have a look." she conditioned.

Relenting with a large grin, Gibbs rolled his eyes before moving across the floor and climbing the stairs. Upon reaching the threshold and his wife at the top, it wasn't long before the pair of them had exited the basement. Neither of them really knew who had initiated the kiss and since they were still glued to one another, they ended up completely bypassing the kitchen...

* * *

All day, Abby had hardly been nervous about her doctors' appointment but as the time approached; the knot in her stomach began to tighten awfully quick, especially upon seeing the doctor's solemn expression upon entering his office.

"Hello, Miss Sciuto… Abby." Dr. Isafie corrected, soon remembering her preference as she took a seat.

"Doctor Isafie." she acknowledged, sighing deeply.

Silence hung between the pair for a moment, only tightening the knot in Abby's stomach further. Maybe her unjustified thoughts may have been justified after all…

"Right then, Abby, lets just get to it." he began.

"This isn't good news, is it?" she whispered, already guessing she knew the answer.

Sighing deeply, the Doctor hardly moved which silently confirmed her suspicions.

"There is no easy way for me to tell you this." he confessed, "I wish there was."

Those two sentences, those two simple sentences, were enough to make Abby glad she was seated. Within only a few short seconds, she actually could feel that all the blood had drained away from her face. Her legs decided to become lead as she sat there and the room seemed to start to spin around her, followed by the stinging sensation at the back of her throat which surfaced for the second time that day.

Dr. Isafie soon noticed her posture change but decided it was best to continue. She had to know one was or another.

"I'm afraid both your blood test and bone marrow biopsy show the same thing." he explained, "The, the condition itself is rather rare, especially in someone of your age. However, vast improvements have in the last thirty years…"

"Doctor, please!" Abby interrupted, "What… what have I got? What's wrong with me?"

"Abby…" the doctor tried to reason; aware she was beginning to panic.

"Please…" Abby argued calmly, "Tell me."

The Doctor sighed deeply. Now it was time to deliver news he always hated to deliver.

"You have, what is known as, acute myeloid leukaemia." he told her as softly as he could, "I'm so sorry, Miss Sciuto…"


	3. Just drop it

Chapter 3: "Just drop it…"

Still sat in the chair opposite to her doctor, near enough locked in place in the dangerously uncomfortable seat in a stationary position, Abby could barely process anything happening around her. The pain she had been experiencing had been bearable most of the time but every now and then, it made her want to cry, and she _never_ cried. However, after just discovering the cause, she could no longer feel any pain; she didn't cry either… she was just numb.

Nothing seemed to register, not the time or the sounds of the world around her, she didn't even feel as if she could breathe any longer. It may have been a cliché she thought was reserved only for movies but it honestly felt as though her world was crumbling around her.

It had merely been seconds, but in her eyes it could have been hours before the sound of the doctor's voice finally began to be processed by her ear drums. At first it was still weak and quiet, like she was swimming underwater, but soon it returned to the previous volume. However, his words remained a blur…

Being a scientist for so long, she knew about many diseases. Granted, probably not in the depth and long-winded medical terminology in which Ducky knew it but enough to know how the body would be affected. Cancer, no matter what the type, had the potential to be dangerous. If it spread to certain areas of the body – the bones, spinal cord, brain, etc. – it would almost definitely be fatal; obviously not in _all_ cases but enough to make her worry.

She had questions too, so many questions. How was her life going to be affected? She knew it would be. How would she tell the team? Would they be there for her? But most importantly, the question which stood above all the others was simply: Would she survive?

"Acute myeloid leu…" the doctor begun to explain, soon interrupted by the young woman who had finally managed to regain access of her vocal chords.

"I know what it is." Abby stated matter-of-factly, a little harsher than she intended before she looked over at him sheepishly, "I'm… I'm a forensic scientist… and I-I do work with a doctor who could out talk… something that can talk really,_ really_ fast… and…"

Dr. Isafie sighed silently as she continued to ramble uncontrollably, most of her words merging into a long, continued sound which he doubted even she could translate. He'd seen it happen to many patients before, especially after receiving bad news. It was a classic sign of shock, something he had no doubt she was experiencing.

Once she had come to a stop and let the room fall into a bitter silence, Abby found herself shaking her head lightly. Looking back at Dr. Isafie, he soon spotted her teeth digging into her lip as she held back a tear or two.

"Are… I mean, are you sure?" she asked him to confirm slowly, feeling the back of her throat begin to bitterly sting, almost as if she were being stabbed by hundreds of little cocktail sticks simultaneously.

Sighing once again, the doctor slowly nodded. "Yes… I am sorry, Abby…" he repeated.

For the first time, Abby felt the dams in her eyes burst, letting a slow couple of tears run down her face, something she expected was only the beginning of a lot more to come.

"AML?" she had to ask again, "_Really…?_"

The doctor nodded. "I'm afraid so." he answered in a loud whisper.

"But, but that's _really rare_…" Abby argued lightly, hoping that would somehow change the fact, ""And it's aggressive, and… _rare_, really rare." she had to repeat, as if he didn't know.

"I understand you're frightened." he told her calmly, "But as I said before, vast improvements have been made with treatments for this condition…"

"The survival rates are still bad." Abby countered before feeling herself get a little angry at the doctor's calm demeanour, "And don't you _dare_ say you know_ how I feel!_ You've got no idea _how I feel _right now!"

Sighing, the doctor simply nodded once. Being angry was just another part of the process he had learnt to expect from a patient; it was the next step of them trying to cope.

Feeling herself finally breakdown, Abby let out a broken sob. Giving herself a few seconds before shaking her head roughly and rolling back her shoulders, Abby sighed deeply in order to regain control of herself.

"Sorry…" she apologised.

"Its okay, Abby." the doctor promised, "It's perfectly normal for you to feel the way you do."

Nodding, Abby felt her teeth begin to dig into her inner lip, a small bead of iron blood hitting her tongue not long after.

"Now; we need to start to put a treatment plan in place. The sooner we start the better." he explained, returning to business.

Abby slowly nodded. "Okay…" she understood, deeply fearful of the harsh reality she was going to face, "Such as?"

"Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are the most common treatments, both available from our cancer treatment centre in this hospital." he explained, "Another option would be a bone marrow transplant, preferably from a sibling or matching donor… but that could take time."

"Time I don't have…" Abby muttered, "And-and Luca's away on business. So he… he couldn't be tested anyway."

"Look, I'll put together a treatment plan." he told her, "We can then tailor it for you in a few days, okay?"

Abby nodded. "Yeah…" she agreed slowly, "Yeah, okay…"

* * *

Gibbs awoke, as usual, to the bright morning sun burning through the gap between the curtains covering the high window in the bedroom. Luckily, unlike his wife, the light didn't bothering him so it allowed him to wake slowly. However, what caught his attention was the unusually empty bed he was lying in. That woke him up much abruptly in the form of the sharp dart up into a sitting position.

"Jen?" he called out a little croakily, aware that the entire room was still.

Whipping the duvet off of him, Gibbs stumbled up onto his feet, concerned as to where Jenny was. It was rare, actually never before had it happened that he'd woken up to find her not at his side.

"Jenny?" he called once again, peeking out of the door onto the landing area, "Ya here?"

Quick-stepping down the stairs, he soon ended up in the living area, confused as to why he found his missing wife fast asleep on the sofa by the front window.

Having recently being awoke abruptly, he decided against letting Jenny feel the same awful feeling, therefore he decided to quietly make his way to her side. Kneeling in front of her, he carefully began to run his hand over her ruffled hair, moving it away from her face.

"Jen…" he whispered softly, casing her to stir almost immediately.

Moaning softly, Jenny rolled off of her side and onto her back, breathing a little louder before finally opening her eyes. As soon as she had, she noticed his presence and rolled her head in order to face him.

"Mornin'…" he smiled softly, leaning forward to kiss her forehead, not wanting to crowd her too much until she was fully awake, "What ya doin' down here?"

Jenny moaned softly once again, ignoring the growing feeling of nausea creeping back into her system, as she smiled weakly over at him.

"Rough night." she answered truthfully, "Didn't wanna wake ya."

She knew why, she had for a few days but she wasn't sure whether she wanted to tell him, not yet. She supposed it was lucky she'd had the flu a few weeks beforehand, as to not to worry him too much for the moment…

"You feeling alright?" he automatically asked, making her laugh slightly.

"I'm fine, Jethro." she promised.

"Jen?" he asked once again, wanting to make sure.

"Jethro, drop it… I'm fine." she promised him, "I should go and get ready for work."

Gibbs shook his head and leant down to kiss her cheek, earning himself a large grin as he did so.

"It's only five in the mornin', Jen." he explained, "Go back to sleep for an hour. I promise I'll wake ya at six."

Jenny sighed, stretching out her back in the process.

"I'm awake, Jethro." she pointed out, "I won't sleep now."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows lightly. If the dark circled under her eyes were any indication, she was far from wrong.

"Tough." he stated, "Sleep, Jen. I'll be in the shower."

"Is that an order?" she smirked.

Gibbs clambered to his feet and nodded once, smiling incredibly softly as he did so.

"Yes," he answered, "Head Field Agent's orders."

Jenny raised her eyebrow, her head never leaving the arm of the chair.

"Director of a Federal Agency." she quipped back, "I outrank you, _Agent _Gibbs."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows slowly, shaking his head from side to side. She wanted to play, he wanted to win… and he was going to.

"Temporary Director's orders to the Director out on medical leave." he stated, "I win."

Jenny scoffed slightly. "I'm not on medical leave." she reminded him, "You _handed _my post back to me rather easily, remember?"

"As I recall, Ducky stated you should be take a week off." he pointed out, "A working week is five days… and you only took four days off. I allocate _today _as day five, meaning at this moment, I am the Temporary Director. Therefore I outrank you right now, so sleep."

Jenny once again laughed, amused at his bizarre logic. "And if I refuse?" she queried.

Gibbs scoffed, shaking his head a little. "Well…" he began, a devilish smirk gracing his lips, the last thing Jenny saw before a large, yet bearable, weight appeared on her hips, namely her husband quickly pouncing and straddling her.

He was careful not to put all of his weight on her but it still didn't stop her from crying out.

"Oh, Jethro…" she laughed, shifting slightly so she was more comfortable, "I'm not as young as I used to be."

"Well, that's what you get for _thinking_ about disobeying direct orders." he smirked, leaning his forehead against hers.

Jenny couldn't suppress the laugh that followed.

"So what would happen if I did?" she enquired.

"Well, I might have done this…" he whispered, pecking the tip of her nose with a soft kiss, "And if you'd done it a second time, this…" he continued, trailing his nose across her cheek until his lips reached the side of her face and brushed her skin softly until his teeth settled on her ear.

Stifling a moan, Jenny smiled and exhaled out a little louder than usual.

"And… and if I'd _dared_ to do it a third time?" she smirked lightly.

A shiver shot down her back when she felt Gibbs smile into her ear.

"Then I'd have had to do this…" his whispered against her skin, trailing down to her slightly exposed neck.

He left no inch of her neck kiss free and the moans escaping her lips only encouraged him to continue. Her neck had always been her point of weakness, something he found out very early in their relationship and always used to his advantage… not that she ever complained.

"Remind me to disobey you more often…" she sighed, lifting her head to look into his eyes once he stopped.

"You do anyway, don't ya?" he smirked, kissing her briefly on the lips before pushing himself up and onto the floor.

Still resting her head on the arm of the chair, she watched him head towards the kitchen, on a mission for his morning coffee. As she did, it didn't take her long to notice a strong feeling of nausea build in her stomach once again. Moaning quietly, Jenny turned on her side, hoping that would allow it to pass. It had already made her have one of the roughest nights possible and at that moment, she would have done anything for it to finally stop.

Just then, she heard her husband's cell phone ring, his third phone of the month since his latest one had ended up smashed to pieces by his mallet almost a week beforehand.

"Gibbs." he answered gruffly, making her smile in the process. She knew it was more than likely work, meaning he'd be leaving sooner than he had planned. However, that was a good thing for her since she didn't particularly want him to see her be sick. If he did, he'd just worry she was ill again, "Um-hm… okay, I'm on my way, DiNozzo."

Emerging from the kitchen with two mugs in either hand, his cell more than likely deposited on the counter, Gibbs smiled softly and placed the mug of the ridiculously strong-smelling coffee on the small table near to Jenny's face.

Smiling weakly in appreciation, Jenny tried her best not to show him how much the smell was actually making her insides turn. Coffee… she absolutely hated the stuff at that moment in time.

"I gotta go." he told her softly, "Young marine's been found dead in Maryland."

Jenny sighed deeply, shaking her head softly. _Another one…_

"When?" she asked softly.

"0300 this mornin'." he answered, "DiNozzo and McGee are already in, Ziva's on her way."

"You better join 'em then." she smiled lightly, receiving a soft peck on the lips as he leant down, "I'll see you in a bit."

"You too." he promised as he slowly pulled up from her, "Love ya."

"Love you more." she whispered, earning one of his large grins before he began to head out.

* * *

With coffee already on his tongue, Gibbs somehow managed to actually get into the elevator before yawning. It had been one hell of a long morning. Travelling to the park in Maryland where the young marine had been found and back was bad enough, but the case itself was turning out to be rather difficult. Not only had the young woman not had any identification on her, her body had been shot, stripped, possibly slashed, and then dumped in ditch like she was trash. She had been found in a rather unusual position too, her knees pulled up with her arms wrapped tightly around, something she was stuck in until rigor mortis either resolved or could be broken. That was exactly what Ducky and Mr. Palmer were attempting to do at that moment in time.

The team had worked many cases but there was something about that particular one which was making them all very uneasy, however, none of them could explain why.

"Tired, boss?" DiNozzo piped up, receiving a soft smile and eye roll from the older man.

"Ya think, DiNozzo?" he queried, his smile morphing into a subtle smirk.

Tony sighed slowly, his mind still struggling to forget the victim on the slab in Autopsy where the two of them were heading. The last thing he wanted was to see her again…

"Boss?" Tony began uncertainly.

Gibbs noticed his hesitancy, something he never usually displayed. Turning to face the younger agent, the one who looked as washed out as he felt, Gibbs raised his eyebrows slightly.

"What is it, DiNozzo?" he asked.

Tony felt his teeth sink into his inner lip momentarily.

"Have you…" he tried to say, "Have you ever seen anything like this?"

Gibbs sighed, slowly bringing himself to shake his head from side to side.

"No, DiNozzo." he answered quietly, "I can't say I have…"

Tony sighed once again, turning away from Gibbs and looking towards the doors which were soon about to open.

"I've… I've never _not _been able to block out a victim before, Boss." he almost whispered, "But I just… I can't…"

"I know, Tony." Gibbs understood, patting him softly on the shoulder, "I know…"

The elevator soon stopped at the floor the pair was heading too. Without exchanging any words, the two agents exited the elevator and entered the Autopsy lab to find the body of the young marine lying flat on the slab with Ducky examining a deep-looking slash on the young woman's abdomen.

"What ya got, Duck?" Gibbs queried, taking another sip of his coffee.

"Ah, Jethro." Ducky acknowledged softly.

"Duck…" Gibbs acknowledged in response, allowing his eyes to wander across the young woman's blood-stained body.

He felt a lump form in his throat as he finally had more than a few seconds to take in the details of the young woman, and by God she was young. Her features were so soft they looked child-like and if it weren't for the slash and gunshots to her body, he would have sworn she was sleeping.

"We've only just broke rigor, Jethro." Ducky explained.

Gibbs knew perfectly well he was just trying to buy more time to do a thorough examination but his patience was wearing thin. He wanted the person who had killed the girl caught, pronto.

"Okay…" he understood, "What ya got?"

"Very funny, Jethro." he said with a large sigh, signalling to Palmer to assist him with staring the autopsy.

Firstly examining the gunshot wounds on the woman's back, both the upper and lower back, Ducky began his verbal report.

"Two gunshot wounds to the upper region of the back, two to the lower." he began, "Three went straight through…"

Pulling a slug out of the wound in the lower back, Ducky dropped in into a specimen jar Palmer had waiting for him.

"And one did not… To Abby, please." he smiled weakly to his assistant.

DiNozzo, who stood a little further away from the examination table than usual, piped up from the side.

"I'll take it." he offered, almost grabbing the jar from Palmer's hand and whipping out a pen from his inner pocket to sign for it.

Gibbs would have been concerned about Tony's behaviour if he didn't partially understand and feel the same way himself. It was so strange, but something about the case seemed to have really hit the team hard.

"Note the curvilinear port-mortem incision, Mr Palmer." Ducky instructed, capturing Tony's attention which ultimately made him halt in his tracks, "A sharp-force trauma starting underneath the sternum down the left hand side of the abdomen to just above the pubic bone… There's also evidence of placental parenchyma."

It was that statement that made Gibbs deeply regretted sipping his coffee only a moment beforehand. He honestly thought he was seconds away from bringing it back up.

"This woman was pregnant?!" he almost cried, his eyes wide in a state of horror when he looked back down at her.

Ducky sighed deeply once again; stopped what he was doing and nodded softly. Similarly to Gibbs, his face was long and pained. Whoever had attacked the poor woman had certainly been vicious.

"This cut," he began, pointing to the large gash circling the victim's abdomen, "is a crude C-section. From the lack of tissue reaction, I'd say its post-mortem."

"So let me get this straight." Tony said rather loudly, his mind baffled at the information he had just heard, "Someone shot her, let her die and then cut out her baby… It's like… you know, I can't even think what this is like… but seriously, could this baby still be alive?"

Ducky shrugged his shoulders. "There is a small window of time where a baby can survive in the uterus after the mother's death." he told them, "But considering this woman's been dead for at least 12 hours, it's unlikely."

"But a baby wasn't found at or near the crime scene." DiNozzo pointed out before turning to Gibbs, "I'll put out a BOLO at the hospitals in the area… and get this slug to Abby."

It was at that point when DiNozzo left the lab, the new-found information giving him the boost he needed. Just like his boss, he wanted the one responsible.

Ducky continued with his examination, a little relieved to have a few moments to continue uninterrupted while Gibbs' brain processed all the new information.

"The baby's father could be the killer," Gibbs piped up after a moment, voicing his first suggestion of the possible guilty party, "trying to hide his identity… no baby means no DNA, no evidence that it's his."

Palmer, who had been listening intensely and who was still visually examining the C-section incision, sighed noticeably.

"Could it be a marine… the father?" he piped up without thinking, deeply regretting it a moment later when he raised his head since all he received from the two older men were silent stares.

"Yes, course it could, Palmer." answered Gibbs, his voice beginning to strain, "It could also be the local mailman for all we know!" he exclaimed before turning to Ducky, "There's no way for us to find out… is there, Duck?"

"Actually, now that you mention it, it may just be possible…" Ducky realised.

"Duck, are you saying there's a way to catch this son of a bitch?" Gibbs asked hurriedly.

Ducky nodded slowly. "DNA in the chorionic villi is foetal in origin." he explained, "It would contain the father's DNA which Abby would be able to match."

Gibbs nodded. "Do it." he ordered, "_Off the record, _Duck…"

* * *

Gibbs still couldn't get used to entering a quiet forensic lab but just like the rest of the team, he'd grown to expect it. Abby really wasn't herself for whatever reason and no-one could work out why… she certainly wasn't telling.

"No match for the slug Ducky pulled." Abby reported the moment he stepped through the door. Apparently, a quieter lab made it harder for him to _sneak up_ on her, "The specific gun isn't in the system but its military issue: a M1911 pistol, used by both Marines and Army personnel."

"Yeah, Abbs, I know..." Gibbs whispered, reaching the work-top the gun was placed on just as she moved over to her computer station.

"Paternal DNA's still running through AFIS." she explained to him automatically, "No matches yet."

Moving around the other side of the station, obviously avoiding him at all cost, Gibbs remained put why she tried to make herself look busy. However, he knew her far to well. All her tricks were common knowledge to him.

"Anything else, Gibbs?" Abby asked, her voice faltering slightly on his name, something he easily picked up.

Moving around to the same side of the station as her, Gibbs sighed deeply.

"Abby, look at me." he whispered, softly but enough to let her know he was serious.

She felt her stomach tighten and the familiar sting at the back of her throat return as his words sunk through her skin.

Shaking suddenly and swiftly turning away, Abby found herself wiping away a few escaped tears as she returned to the other side of her lab.

"Gibbs, please. I've got a lot of work to do and…" she tried to explain.

Apparently, he was still able to _sneak up_ on her as when she turned around; he was literally on her toes. Gasping slightly, Abby once again felt her eyes water. _He was too close…_

"Abby, please… What is going on?" he asked, finally seeing her eyes for the first time.

Biting into her lip rather evidently, Abby roughly shook her head.

"Nothing…" she lied obviously, her voice breaking as she spoke.

"Abby…" Gibbs repeated, his eyes fixed upon her quivering form as she futilely tried to move away from him.

Feeling herself beginning to cry, Abby mentally kicked herself for being so weak in front of him. She didn't want him to worry over her… she could handle this by herself.

"Gibbs, please…" she begged, "Just drop it."

Sighing deeply, Gibbs shook his head softly. "I can't Abby…" he confessed, "Not this time…"

It was just then that the database found a match, lucky for Abby but not for Gibbs…

* * *

It was rather late when the case itself wrapped up and the team managed to get home. That case above all was certainly the one they were all glad to put behind them. Finally, the young marine, identified as Lt. Erica Wilde, was put to rest while her newborn son was safely with her mother in West Virginia. Her killer, her Commander and not the child's father, was behind bars and no matter how much he tried not to, it was all Gibbs could think about, well, that and Abby.

Arriving home, he expected Jenny to be long in bed as it was 0100 but he was most certainly wrong. Going through the door, the noise which caught his attention was his wife, retching rather roughly by the sound of it.

"Jenny?!" he called.

He was just about to dart up the stairs when she appeared at the top, clearly washed out as she exited the bathroom. Smiling softly down at him, she leant against the wall to her left before sitting down on the top step.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Fine, Jethro…" she breathed.

"You don't sound it." he pointed out, removing his jacket and tossing it across the room towards the sofa.

Jenny sighed deeply, internally agreeing with him. Truth be told, she did feel awful but it was nothing she couldn't handle. Besides, after the case he'd just worked, the last thing he needed more stress to be put on his plate.

"Jen…" he tried to persuade.

Biting her lip visibly, Jenny sighed deeply. _Should she tell him? Now was as good a time as any…_

"Jen, what is it?" he asked, sure there was something further waiting to be said.

It was then that the pair heard a soft yet definite knock on the front door. At that time of night, neither of them had any idea who it could have been.

Jenny sighed deeply, taking the interruption as a sign that it was best to leave it be for now. _She could tell him tomorrow…_

"I'm goin' back to bed." she told him softly, clambering back up onto her feet, "Don't be too long…"

"Jen…" he tried to reason.

"Just drop it, Jethro… please…" she whispered, disappearing back into their bedroom.

He sighed, relenting rather easily; he didn't have the energy to argue.

Once she'd gone, Gibbs turned to the door, confused as to why nobody had just walked in. Everyone usually did. On his approach, he soon found himself frowning deeply, confused why he found Abby on his doorstep.

Opening in the door, Gibbs let his frown ease.

"It's not locked, Abbs…" he told her softly, soon spotting she had crying recently. Her red, puffy eyes were the give away.

Abby sighed deeply, looking up at the man who she considered the closest thing to a father. In his slacks, not one of his work suits, she tried her best to smile at him but it just didn't happen. She had too much pain, both physically and mentally eating her up. _Was she doing the right thing, coming to him now?_

"Hi, Gibbs…" she greeted, barely above a whisper, "Can… can I come in?"

Gibbs nodded softly. "Yeah… sure." he answered equally as soft, moving aside to allow her to enter.

Closing the door, Gibbs watched her move slowly into the living area, her hands tightly bound together.

"Are… are you drinking coffee?" she asked, clearly in a timid manner, a way she never had been around him before.

"No." he answered truthfully, walking into the living area and picking up the coat he had thrown which hadn't reached the sofa as hoped, "Why? D'ya want one?"

Abby shook her head. "No, not really…" she confessed.

Gibbs sighed deeply once again before sitting on the sofa near to her.

"It's one in the mornin'." he pointed out, "Why ya here, Abbs?"

Abby sighed deeply, gulping before turning to face him.

"I um… I don't know..." she stumbled carelessly over her words, "I have a few things I need to do, you know?"

Gibbs nodded uncertainly. "Such as…?" he asked slowly.

Abby looked away briefly but soon looked back, his eyes strongly piercing through the darkness of the room.

"I um… I'm…" she struggled to say.

Gibbs sighed. "Abby, whatever it is… I'm here for you." he promised, "Whatever the problem is, whatever's goin' on, I'm here… we all are."

Abby felt her chest quiver. "All?" she queried.

"All of us… the whole team. Everybody's worried…" he trailed off, lightly brushing a loose piece of hair behind her ear, "And you just won't tell us what's goin' on…"

Once again, the famous sting returned to her throat, something she was slowly adapting to.

"I'm ill, Gibbs… really ill." she managed to choke out, making Gibbs' chest tighten slightly.

He kept quiet, unable to find any appropriate words. Exactly how _ill_ did she mean…?

"I um… I have leukaemia." she told him, her words finding their way to the surface now the first barrier had been broken down; she hadn't got the energy to keep it from him any longer, "An aggressive one…"

Gibbs felt his teeth begin to sink into his inner lip as she trailed off. Why hadn't she come to him before? He would have always been there for her, and up until that point, he honestly thought she knew that.

"Why… why didn't you say anything sooner, Abby?" he asked in a whisper.

"I… I don't know." she confessed, feeling her body tremble, "I'm sorry, Gibbs…" she apologised, falling against him as he tightly pulled her into his arms.

"Don't be sorry, Abbs…" he whispered against her hair, "You know we'll help you through this… we're all here for you… you know that, right?"

She nodded into his chest. "I'm scared, Gibbs…" she confessed, "I might die…"

"No." Gibbs stated, kissing her head softly, "No, I won't let you…"


	4. We're all worried

Chapter 4: "We're all worried…"

At first, Jenny didn't understand the sudden difference in her husband's behaviour. Gone was the man she had married; he wasn't there anymore.

Every morning was exactly the same. She'd wake up to an empty bed, always unused by her husband, make breakfast for one, get ready for work, ignore her churning insides and then leave for work, always alone. Gibbs was never there. She was pretty sure he didn't come home anymore.

His sudden chance she really hadn't understood, but she did now, well, partly. After learning about Abby's condition, she understood Gibbs was obviously hurting but she honestly thought that now more than ever, he would need her support. She definitely needed him, and she wished he needed her… obviously not though.

Jenny didn't drive herself to work that morning, giving her some rather unwanted time to herself. Sat in the backseat, leaning against the cold window to try and cool her heated skin, she didn't notice her teeth sinking into her lip until the bead of iron blood rolled onto her tongue. Two people were plaguing her thoughts: her husband and the woman who had got all of his attention, the one who needed him a lot more than she did… that still didn't stop her missing him though.

Learning about Abby's illness had shaken the entire team, especially those closest to her. Jenny was no exception. Those sorts of things didn't happen to them, not to their team. The worst illness which had affected them, barring DiNozzo's bout of plague just before she became Director, was the flu… Abby couldn't be _that_ ill; _she couldn't… it wasn't allowed._

Jenny was angry, that was certainly true; not at anyone in particular, but she was angry. How could it be happening to Abby? She was so young, so full of life. She had a great future ahead of her, so much potential. Why had she been stuck with that deadly illness? Jenny would have rather it have been her; let her be ill, let her be the one who might die, not Abby…

Seeing Gibbs in the squad room that morning did absolutely nothing to ease the hurt burning away in her heart. In fact, if anything, it only intensified it… she doubted he even noticed her.

"Ah, Director." greeted Cynthia as she headed towards her office that morning, "An Admiral Coffman is here to see you. He apologises that he isn't scheduled but it's _urgent. _That's what I've been told."

Nodding softly, Jenny tried her best to hide her surprise as her Secretary continued. Admiral Coffman, Carrick Coffman, she hadn't seen him for years. It was hard to imagine the two of them had been such close friends during childhood; their careers had literally forced them apart.

"I put him into your office." Cynthia explained before opening the door and allowing her to see the aged face of her once best friend.

"Carrick." she smiled, extending her hand out to him.

"Jennifer." he smiled softly as he accepted her hand, suddenly making the last fifteen years of silence fade in a nanosecond.

Cynthia soon left; closing the door behind her while Jenny showed the Admiral to a seat, a seat he didn't look keen to stay in long.

"As much as I'd love to catch up Jenny, I'm not here for that." he confessed softly.

"I guessed as much." she sighed, taking a seat behind her desk, "What can I do for you, Admiral?"

Placing his cap on his knees, Jenny soon noticed the man's forehead crease, a clear sign he was hurting over something.

"You remember my daughter, Cleo?" he asked, not waiting for an answer, "She was, um… she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer a few months ago… She hasn't got long left."

Jenny felt her heart drop, the news hitting hard for more reasons than one. The poor man… Cleo was only nineteen years old at most; he must have been absolutely devastated.

"Oh, Carrick… I'm sorry." she sympathised, not regretting for a moment of slipping out of her professional hat.

The Admiral shook his head. "Thing is, Jenny. She's missing." he explained, lifting his head to look directly at her, "And I know it isn't priority, but I really need your help. I need to find her… before it's too late."

Jenny felt the air suddenly escape her lips, especially as his voice broke. He was putting her into a rather tricky situation… she wanted to help him, and she was sure he knew it, however, she also knew that she wasn't allowed to use agents for a personal reasons. She did it once with La Grenouille, and it almost destroyed her. From that day, she vowed never again to involve her personal life with her work.

"Please, Jenny…" he literally begged, the strong man she once knew almost crying before her, "The police won't help, she hasn't been missing for long enough… _please…_"

Jenny sighed deeply, her teeth returning to the tender spot on her lip. _They seemed to be there a lot lately…_

"I'll see what I can do." she agreed quietly.

Flying up to his feet, Jenny could see the gratefulness in his eyes as clearly as she could see the deep lines on his face. Saying he was worried was certainly the biggest understatement of the week.

"Thank-you…" he could barely manage.

Smiling softly, Jenny called for Cynthia to escort him out. Now all she had to do was get Gibbs on her side. Usually she wouldn't have worried but considering she hadn't really spoken to him for a week, perhaps it wasn't going to be as easy as she hoped…

Calling his desk, she felt her heavy heart hammer against her ribcage when all she received from him was a rough greeting. Harsh footsteps soon appeared outside her door and, in classic Gibbs style; the door forcefully swung open. He proceeded to step in before the door slammed shut without any extra force needed. At least he hadn't forgotten the way to her office…

"What?" he demanded, his voice still harsh enough to make her feel very uncomfortable.

Explaining her wishes, all she received was an obvious eye roll and slight shrug of the shoulders, something which deeply infuriated her.

"Problem, _Agent_ Gibbs?" she restrained herself from spitting out.

"No." he answered, "But isn't this _personal_, not official?"

"Oh, like you've never done anything like this before!" she snapped.

"Yes, but I'm not the Director of a Federal Agency." he pointed out.

"A young, vulnerable girl is missing, Jethro." she reworded, getting more and more wound up by the second.

"So let the FBI deal with it." he suggested flatly, "This isn't our jurisdiction."

"She's the daughter of a Navy Admiral." Jenny argued.

Outraged at his lack of heart as he just stood there, completely dismissing anything she said, Jenny felt insides scream at him, something which she soon couldn't help but follow.

"Dammit Jethro, what is wrong with you?!" she demanded.

Sniggering before heading towards the door, Gibbs simply shrugged his shoulders.

"I was gonna ask you the same question, _Director_." he quipped back, "DiNozzo'll handle it."

Jenny's frown intensified as he opened the door and was about to step out.

"Why not you?" she queried, "Where are you going?"

Gibbs turned his head, his face clearly lacking any emotion towards her.

"Its Abby's first chemo session." he explained, "I'm going with her."

Jenny couldn't help but scoff, not out of anything against Abby or him, just out of surprise.

"And you were going to tell me this _when_…?" she asked.

Gibbs once again shrugged his shoulders. "Just did." he answered simply before disappearing, leaving Jenny feeling much worse than she already had been. The nauseous feeling suddenly appearing definitely wasn't helping either…

* * *

Tony hadn't been sure how he felt since he'd heard about Abby and her condition, but he was sure he didn't like her lab without her there. The team he loved wasn't right, it was incomplete. The temporary forensic scientist, Gabby Antalari, was doing a great job but she still wasn't Abby, no matter how close her given name was.

"Ziva, anything?" he asked, trying his best to focus on the case at hand.

Ziva rose to her feet, moving over towards the centre of the squad room as she spoke.

"Neither parents recall hearing anything suspicious last night at the suspected time of her disappearance," she began, "None of the neighbours heard or saw anything barring one who claimed he saw a SUV-type car driving away from her home about 0100 this morning, however, he didn't see the plates or anybody in the car barring a male driver…"

She trailed off with a silent sigh, something Tony usually would have played on. However, he too was struggling to act normal. He knew that just like him, Abby and her treatment session was strongly on her mind, McGee's too.

"McGee, how are you doing with the timeline?" Tony asked, glancing down at the file in his hand, namely the personnel file of Miss Cleo Coffman. The poor woman definitely didn't have much time left if her medical notes were anything to go by.

The seconds ticked by without any reply from McGee, making Tony look up over at his desk.

"Probie!" he called, making McGee jump instantly.

"S-Sorry…" McGee apologised softly, "What d'you say?"

Sighing deeply, Tony placed the file down on his desk before striding over to McGee's desk. Smiling softly, he perched himself on the edge, looking down at the distracted agent.

Tony knew McGee probably cared for Abby a lot more than the rest of them, barring Gibbs, and he knew he really was taking her diagnosis hard. He was still angry at himself for not noticing anything sooner, despite the fact that they all had tried to convince him it wasn't his fault.

"Tim…" Tony whispered softly, "She'll be okay."

McGee shook his head weakly. "You don't know that, Tony." he pointed out dismally.

"True…" he agreed softly, "And we're all worried, but Abby wouldn't want us like this… There's a missing girl out there, a girl who's dying, and we're worrying over her treatment… she'd kick all our asses."

Tim laughed softly; Tony was right. Abby wouldn't have liked them moping around, not when there was work to be done.

"True." he concurred.

"Right, c'mon then." Tony encouraged.

McGee nodded, agreeing. Tony may have been a pain at times but he certainly had his moments. Deep down, he did care for his work colleagues.

Just as Tony jumped up to his feet, the phone at his desk began to ring out; startling him slightly, not that he'd admitted that. Going over and answering it, Tony was a little surprised to hear the new forensic scientist's voice on the other end of the line.

"Right… okay." he understood, "Be right there."

Ending the call and putting the phone back down the holster; Tony looked between Ziva and McGee, signalling them towards the rear elevator with his head.

"C'mon. Ab… _Gabby's_ got something." he corrected, ignoring the sting in his throat his mistake caused.

The three of them travelled down to the lab in a bearable silence, soon finding themselves on the floor of the forensic lab. Tony soon noticed the lack of music belting out of the lab's open door; he still didn't like it. He doubted Abby would too, if she ever came back…

The three of them popped their heads through the door in complete sync, resulting in the new scientist raising her eyebrow slightly at the trio, partly out of shock at their silent appearance but also out of humour.

"You three in a habit of acting out silent movies?" the young woman smirked, "Or ya gonna make my day and _actually_ talk to me?"

"Sorry." Tony apologised as the three of them straightened up and entered the room fully, "You said you'd got something?"

"Yes." Gabby smiled, moving over to a small laptop on Abby's desk, one she'd linked up to the monitor, "I tracked the SUV the eyewitness saw and confirmed that the missing woman was in fact inside it."

The three of them frowned. "How'd you track it?" McGee queried, genuinely intrigued.

Gabby flicked her head around, her blonde ponytail swinging with her before it wrapped itself around her throat. Knocking her thick, black-rimmed glasses up her nose, her crimson lips curled up into an elegant smile.

"The neighbourhood CCTV system." she answered, bringing the footage up on her laptop, "I followed the SUV on the cameras until it pulled up at a small diner at the other end of the neighbourhood."

"How'd you get that?" Tony enquired.

"I hacked it." Gabby answered simply.

"You hacked it?" Tony had to repeat, suppressing the urge he had to copy his boss' typical punishment head slap move on her… Granted, NCIS had hacked systems before, but never without expressed permission from the agent in charge.

"What made you think of hacking into the CCTV?" Ziva queried, making Tony's attention return to the present situation.

Gabby smiled. "Well, there were no leads barring the SUV, and I was bored. Nobody here wants me, or I guess _trusts_ me, doing their forensics… I mean, I get that Abby is apart of your team but at the moment, so am I…" she trailed off, "Anyway, here's what I found."

Doing a few speedy clicks, the footage of the SUV driving away from the Admiral's house popped up on the larger monitor, showing the vehicle driving the young woman to a local diner, one she soon entered, leaving the driver behind.

"I didn't see the woman again." Gabby explained, "She didn't exit by the front doors and there's no neighbourhood cameras anywhere else nearby. They don't cover the other exits."

Nodding, Tony took a step closer to the screen. "What's the plate?" he queried, "Can you enhance it?"

Gabby nodded. "Yep." she confirmed, doing it with great ease.

"Looks like: KT2 04…" McGee read slowly.

"8." finished Ziva, "I will put out a BOLO."

Tony nodded, watching the footage again, that time focusing on the driver.

"Good." he stated, "I want him brought in."

* * *

Sat in the interrogation room, Ziva was unsure exactly how to read and therefore handle the man sat opposite her. He was the owner of the SUV and unexpectedly, he was nothing like the team expected. He certainly didn't look like the type to be involved in anything illegal; however, she knew that looks weren't everything. Sometimes the kindest looking people turned out to be the vilest.

Watching the man rub his arms lightly, he didn't half remind her of Abby, the one going through her first gruelling chemotherapy session at that exact moment. Learning about her cancer had hurt a great deal. It had been like feeling salt be poured into an open wound: painful. However, part of her had expected it. She knew something wasn't right the moment her behaviour changed…

Shaking her thoughts aside, Ziva returned her attention to the case at hand. It was a rather strange situation. None of the team believed the man to have kidnapped Miss Coffman, mostly since they'd seen her happily exit the vehicle and hug him on the CCTV footage. However, he knew something, something he didn't seem to keen to share. That was what she needed to get out of him.

"Comfortable, Mr Erikson?" she asked him, breaking the ice.

At that moment, she was still scribbling away what appeared to him to be intensive notes. In actual fact, they were nothing more than scribbles. She continued to do so for another moment before slamming her pen down on the metal desk, startling the silent man sat before her. Part of her felt a little sorry for him, he was definitely nervous about the set up and he was trying futilely not to show that.

Oh, she'd break him, of that she was sure…

"What? You don't want to answer a woman's question?" Ziva enquired, the volume of her voice rising slowly.

"I never said that…" the man trailed off.

"I was being _polite,_ Mr Erikson." Ziva continued, "It is not _polite _to ignore a direct question, so… I will try again: Are you comfortable, Mr Erikson?"

Sighing deeply, the young man subtly shrugged his shoulders. "Not really." he confessed.

Ziva smiled softly, once again picking up her pen.

"Good." she noted out loud, adding further marks to her page of scribbles, "Honesty will make this interview pass much quicker."

Cocking her head to the side, Ziva raised her brow slightly.

"Where is Cleo Coffman?" she asked directly.

The man looked away slowly, shrugging his shoulders. "Don't know." he answered.

Ziva nodded, leaning forward slightly. "What did you do to her?" she asked, "Did you kidnap her? Kill her?"

The man head snapped back to Ziva, his eyes wide in horror.

"What?!" he cried, "No! She's not dead!"

Ziva cocked her eyebrows up. "Oh, so you _do_ know something… Right, let's start at the beginning." she suggested, "When was the last time you saw Miss Coffman?"

Erikson shook his head. "Dunno." he answered again, "Couple of days ago maybe…"

Ziva sighed, looking down at her doodles. "You are lying to me, Mr Erikson." she stated, "I do not appreciate people lying to me."

"What you talking about?" Erikson tried to deflect, making Ziva tighten her eyes.

Dropping her pen, Ziva shoved the notepad to one side before grabbing a file which had been sat on the other end of the desk. Opening it swiftly in front of her, Ziva began to _read_ the account before her.

"An eyewitness saw a man of your description at 0102 this morning driving the terminally ill Miss Coffman away from her family home. You were later seen dropping her off at a local diner." Ziva said, "Do you deny this?"

"Yes." he answered automatically.

Ziva laughed. "Right." she smirked, grabbing a remote and turning on the TV screen on her left, "So who is this then? Clone? _Evil twin?_"

Erikson turned to look at the screen, gulping when he saw his face clearly on the footage. He soon recognised it as when he dropped Cleo off at the diner early that morning.

"My patience is wearing thin." Ziva warned him, "Where is she, Mr Erikson? Why did you drop her off at the diner?"

Erikson gulped again, turning to Ziva.

"I haven't been read my rights." he remembered, "I'm free to walk out of here at anytime, am I right?"

"I can read you your rights at any time." she clarified, "Although, I'd rather not have too."

"You've got nothing to charge me with…" Erikson tried, definitely pushing his luck.

"Obstructing an investigation into a vulnerable missing person's case." she stated simply, "Now, do not try me. I can make things very difficult for you… Where is Cleo?"

Sighing deeply, Erikson shook his head. "She'll go mad if I tell you…" he muttered, "I promised… I promised them I wouldn't say anything."

"Them?" Ziva interrogated.

Erikson sighed once again, shuffling uncomfortably in his seat before glancing down at his watch. Ziva frowned slightly, further confused by the small smile which formed on his lips.

Relaxing his body, he looked back up at Ziva, shrugging his shoulders carelessly.

"Her husband…" he answered with a half-smile.

* * *

Ducky could feel a mirrored sense of pain in his aged heart when he saw the Admiral finally reunited with his daughter, the one who had run away to marry her lover before she ended up loosing her gruelling battle with her disease.

He hadn't been deeply involved in the case since no body had needed examining but from what he did know, he could see why it had stuck a chord with the others. The young woman's battle was something one of their own had a strong chance of facing. He just hoped hers had a better outcome than the new Mrs Cleo Jackson's did.

Admiral Coffman was noticeably relieved that his daughter was safe, despite the fact that she had married a man without his knowledge. Bruce Jackson, in his eyes, was never going to be good enough for her but Ducky doubted that any man would ever have been good enough in the Admiral's eyes.

"I didn't mean for this to happen…" the Admiral confessed, hugging his weak daughter tightly, "I… I shouldn't have made you feel you had to run away and elope… I'm so sorry, Cleo."

Weeping equally as much as her father, the young woman gripped tightly onto her father's arm. He proceeded to kiss her head softly before turned to look at the young man stood a little further away from them, a man holding his breath and fidgeting with his hands behind his back. Ducky knew that that was a clear sign of nerves.

"And I'm sorry to you too, son." the Admiral apologised, making Ducky smile broadly along with the rest of the team. It took a real man to apologise, especially in the company of others.

"Thank you, sir." the young man smiled softly, "I really do love your daughter."

The Admiral nodded slowly, a small smile expanding softly as he looked between the two.

"Yes." he sighed, "Yes, I can see that…"

Moving over to the Director's side as the group continued to watch the Admiral and his family exchange words, Ducky frowned slightly. The others may not have noticed but he could clearly see the paleness and uncomfortable posture she currently displayed. It may have just been his doctoring skills kicking in but she really didn't look well…

"Jennifer?" he asked lightly, "Are you okay?"

Turning to his voice and instantly smiling, granted softly and more than likely falsely, Jenny nodded in response.

"I'm fine, Ducky." she promised.

"Jennifer…" he trailed off slowly, knowing she was too stubborn for her own good.

She was about to object, he could see that, but then her skin flushed quickly and she became very unsteady on her feet. In a way he was glad he was near enough to make sure she remained standing.

With his arms extended out, supporting the Director who quickly regained her balance, Ducky's concern mounted.

"Jennifer, what's wrong?" he asked, a little more intensely that time.

Looking briefly at the doctor, Jenny smiled weakly.

"I'm fine, Ducky." she repeated before once again smiling at him and then leaving the squad room rather rapidly.

Since the Admiral and his family had left a few moments beforehand, the entire team were a little concerned by her behaviour.

Ziva looked between the three men after the Director had disappeared upstairs in the direction of her office.

"Shall I…?" she trailed off.

Tony nodded briefly while Ducky glanced down at his watch.

"I must get going." he stated, realising the time, "Let me know if there's a problem."

Tony nodded. "Will do." he promised.

Ducky left rather quickly, leaving NCIS behind and heading towards the local hospital, the one where Abby and Gibbs would still be for another hour at least. The roads were surprisingly quiet and Ducky arrived in record time, navigating the building easily to find the chemotherapy unit.

Outside of it, Ducky soon spotted Gibbs with a small cup of what he guessed was coffee in his hand. The man look tired, very tired, but somehow he was still conscious. He guessed that was down to the coffee's hard work.

"Jethro." he called.

Gibbs soon turned to his voice, nodding once to acknowledge his friend who was approaching him.

"Duck." he greeted, taking another sip of his coffee before gagging, "Still tastes awful. You'd think I'd be used to it after drinkin' it all day…"

Ducky smiled softly at the man sitting on the back of one of the chairs in the empty area of the hospital. However, it soon faded as he could hear many voices beyond the door of the unit. So many people were being treated for that deadly disease, and like Abby, they didn't sound that old…

"How is she?" he asked softly.

"Better than me, Duck." Gibbs confessed, "Right now she's talking marine biology with a woman… and enjoying herself."

Ducky smiled. "Suppose it's giving her something to do other than dwell." he suggested.

Gibbs nodded softly, his eyes stuck on a single spot on the floor in front of him as he threw his empty cup in a nearby bin. He was soon shaking his head as his teeth began to sink into his outer lip, his breathing becoming heavier.

"It's killin' me, Duck." he admitted, "Seeing her like this."

Ducky sighed. "She's getting treatment, Jethro… and it's been caught early." he pointed out, "Don't be too hard on yourself… we're all worried."

Gibbs shook his head. "She's told me what her doctor's told her…" he explained, "It's really rare, Duck. A lot of patients don't recover…"

"Others do, Jethro." he told him, "We have to stay positive, for Abigail's sake."

Gibbs felt a bitter sting appear in the back of his throat, a sting another coffee might have helped destroy. However, he doubted it would make him feel any better. When he agreed to go with her to the treatment session, he didn't believe it would be so hard.

"How's everyone doing?" Gibbs asked out of the blue, clearly needing a distraction, "Ziva, McGee, DiNozzo…?"

Ducky nodded softly. "They're good…" he trailed off, "_Jennifer_ is too…"

Gibbs frowned, his tired head turning slightly. "Who?" he asked in a small daze.

Ducky couldn't contain his surprise at that, or the frown that followed.

"Oh, Jen…" Gibbs realised, sighing softly as his eyes returned to the same spot on the ground, "That's um… that's good…"

Ducky sighed deeply. "Jethro, go home." he requested, "I'll stay with Abby."

Instantly, Gibbs' eyes shot open and he jumped up onto his feet, Ducky words giving him that extra boost he needed.

"No, Duck…" he shook his head adamantly, "No, I can't do that. I can't leave her…"

* * *

McGee had debated all day whether or not to go and see Abby, especially after she had just had her first treatment session. He knew she would be tired but he needed to see her, he couldn't bear to wait until morning.

Knocking on the door of her apartment, part of him expected no answer. It was 2200 hours, she'd more than likely be in bed… but obviously not since she opened the door a few moments later.

Smiling weakly, her make-up absent and hair tied up in one loose ponytail and not pigtails, she really didn't look up for a visit. _Maybe he shouldn't have come…_

"Timmy…" she breathed, "Hi."

Opening the door all the way, McGee was reluctant at first to enter but the small gestures from her were clearly asking him to do so.

"Hey…" he greeted softly, entering and closing the door behind him as she moved over to the kitchen area, "How-how are you?"

Abby sighed. "Oh, you know. Same old, same old…" she smiled, "Do you wanna drink?"

Moving over to join her, he leant down and kissed her shoulder softly.

"Let me." he whispered, making her frown.

"I'm not an invalid, Timmy." she reminded him, "I can make you a drink… its not difficult."

"I know, Abbs…" he promised, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

Abby moved away from him, walking around to the living area of her apartment while he watched her from the kitchen.

"You know, you're all doing it at the moment… you're all treating me like I'm stupid!" she snapped, clearly getting wound up.

Tim shook his head. "Abby, you're not stupid, you're ill." he reasoned, "We're just…"

"Stop saying that!" she demanded, making Tim's frown burrow.

"Saying what?" he asked, slowly approaching her.

"_I'm ill…_ you think I don't know that?!" she cried, "It's all I keep hearing from everyone! '_You can't do that, you're ill', 'It's not you're fault, you're ill'! _I know, because guess what? It's _me_ who's going through it all! You're not the one who feels the pain from the damn thing…"

As her rant began to build, Tim felt his heart drop. She was already suffering and this was only the beginning.

"You're not the one who wakes up crying in the middle of the night or who feels sick after receiving treatment that could possibly do nothing more but make you feel worse!" she cried, her eyes beginning to water as her frustration started to be released, "You're not the one who could die from this, Tim! You're not the one who could _die_!"

Feeling her legs give way as her grief took over; all her worries breaking through, Abby barely registered anything other than his arms saving her from meeting the floor with a brutal force.

"Hey…" he soothed, holding her tightly and cradling the back of her head, allowing her to rid herself of her worries. This was her exploding, and he was glad that she felt comfortable enough to do it in his company. At least that way he knew she was letting herself cry and not keeping it bottled up.

"God, Tim. I'm scared…" she muttered through her sobs, gripping tightly onto his arms, the only lifelines she had left, "God, I'm so scared…"

He wasn't really to sure exactly what happened next, he just knew that one minute he was holding her and the next she was kissing him, kissing him in a way she never had before. Recognising her almost painful need, he had no desire to stop her but he also had no wish to let her continue. He knew she was hurting and her actions were just her pain talking. He knew she would never intentionally exploit him but at that moment, he doubted she could understand anything but the pain she was feeling… he really didn't envy the way she felt at that moment.

"Abby, stop." he whispered, pulling away from her lips, "We can't do this…"

Gripping tightly onto his shoulders, Abby leant her forehead against his, her insides squirming for a feeling other than her pain. She wanted him, more than she ever had before.

"Please…" she begged, "_Please…_" her voice breaking.

"Abby…" he trailed off, aware how fragile she was becoming in his arms.

"I need you, Tim…" she whispered, her lips touching his as she spoke.

Abby had never been needy before, not in the way she felt in that moment. She'd never needed to feel her skin move against his before, never needed to feel his lips nuzzle her neck before, never needed to feel a pain such as the one he was providing so much before, a pain which momentarily burnt away any and all of the other pain her body was fighting. She needed him, and although he had been reluctant, she was glad he'd allowed her to feel something other than what her leukaemia dictated.


	5. I promise

Chapter 5: "I promise…"

Abby didn't think it would be possible to feel any worse than she had. With all the pain she felt due to her illness, she was sure nothing could have made her feel any worse, but she was _so_ wrong…

She kept replaying the moment in her mind; the moment where she had literally shattered into what she felt was a sorry excuse for a woman, begging for something that she _never_ should have. The more that she thought about it, the sicker she felt, and she was sure that had nothing to do with the chemo she had had the day before.

Why hadn't she listened to him?! He had said no, quite clearly: _No_. He had been the perfect friend, lover, whatever he was to her, but he had said _no_. He understood that she had been in pain, which she was, and was desperate in a way which wasn't natural for her. That's why he had said _no_… She had literally forced him to sleep with her, convinced him to do what _she_ wanted, not what _he_ wanted… wasn't that the definition of rape? Forcing someone to have sex after they'd said no…?

Abby was visibly shaking when she sunk her hands into the heated water of her wash basin that morning, something she was sure also had nothing to do with her chemo. In all honestly, she wanted nothing more than to throw up the little food she had in her stomach. She was so disgusted with herself it should have been illegal. Tim was one of her best friends and she had used him…

Even the fact that he seemed to act sort of willingly wasn't helping tame her fretting either. He had still said _no_… If she hadn't have begged him, they would not have ended up doing what they did. In simple terms, she had coerced him… how could he ever forgive her? She knew she'd never forgive herself…

Biting her tongue harshly, Abby didn't allow herself to cry. She wouldn't give herself that kind of satisfaction.

Soon, after draining the water from the basin, she stumbled to the doorway of her en suite bathroom, looking over at her messy, empty bed. _He was gone…_

In a way, she was relieved. He didn't deserve to be stuck with her, not after what had happened. However, the other part of her was angry; not at him, _never_ at him, but at herself. After all the things they'd gone through, after all the years they'd known each other, she'd lost him because of her pathetic inability to control herself over her pain, not to say that was an acceptable excuse. She deserved to loose him…

Falling against the door frame, knowing the sharp fall against it would give arise to at least one new bruise to her fragile body, Abby let out an estranged sob, but still she didn't allow herself to cry. She didn't deserve that kind of release on top of the one she forced Tim to give her the night before.

"Abby?" she heard a voice ask from the bedroom doorway on her left.

Her neck full-on snapped towards it, such a mix of emotions running through her, she didn't know exactly how she felt.

"You… you're still here…" she trailed off, forcing a dry gulp of nothing down her throat, "Why are you still here?"

Sighing deeply, Tim shook his head.

"I couldn't leave, not after last night…" he confessed.

Abby's sharp teeth sunk in her lip, the mentions of the night causing a strong, raw pain to erupt in her heavy heart.

"Look about that…" she trailed off as her voice broke, moving over and flopping down on the end of her bed, "I… I'm really sorry about it all, Tim."

Rolling his shoulders back and crossing the floor, Tim sat down next to her, the action making her flinch. She didn't want him to be so close to her… he didn't deserve to be so close to someone like her…

"I'm the one who should be saying sorry…" he admitted.

Abby felt her forehead crease. "What the hell for?!" she cried, "Tim, I forced you to…"

"Abby, I'm the one at fault here." he interrupted her, "What I did was unforgivable… You… you were in a vulnerable position last night; you still are… I should have been more adamant, stopped you, and myself, from doing what we did… I should never have slept with you last night, Abby. I took advantage of you…"

Abby shook her head, tears beginning to spill without any chance of stopping them.

"You didn't." she insisted, "God, Tim. No you didn't…"

Her lips quivered as she paused for a moment, looking back at him to see he too looked at though he was about to cry.

"I wanted that last night…" she confessed, "And you said no, several times… and I wouldn't take that as an answer…"

Tim sighed softly, seeing her point of view also. "I think we both were pretty stupid…" he reasoned, "We both did things we're not proud of."

Abby nodded, her breath becoming a little shaky.

"I'm so sorry, Tim." she apologised, futilely trying to dry her still watering eyes.

"Hey…" he soothed, gently rubbing her cheek, a familiar and acceptable gesture between the pair of them, "Don't apologise…"

"_It's a sign of weakness…_" the both of them finished together, Abby giggling softly through her slowly halting tears.

Leaning her forehead against him, Abby sighed as his hand gently ran down the side of her face before falling into her lap and gripping the back of her hand softly. Giving herself a moment before pulling away slightly, Abby looked deep into McGee's eyes, eyes which didn't seem as heavy as they did a moment beforehand.

"Are… are we okay, Tim?" she asked slowly and still a little uncertainly.

Smiling softly, Tim didn't have to do anything more to answer, but he still did.

"Yeah." he smiled softly, "I promise…"

* * *

Jenny wasn't sure whether or not she preferred Gibbs actually coming home as he'd finally started to do over the last couple of weeks. Whichever it was, it still wasn't helping the atmosphere between them. Every move she made was like treading on eggshells, and when she dared to even try and start a conversation with him, she was _lucky_ if she got no answer…

Standing over the kitchen sink, her hands tightly pulling on the bottom of her already stretched and out-of-shape NIS top, Jenny felt her body tense when she heard her husband's footsteps coming down the stairs. She didn't bother to look around, she just let her ears follow his movements where she heard him flop down onto the sofa, not even so much as a greeting… She was pretty certain he hadn't even noticed her but to be fair, that was normal…

"Coffee?" she offered after a moment, her daring voice breaking roughly through the silence. Their house had been much too quiet for far too long…

Turning his head towards her, all Jenny saw him do was shrug his shoulders, his head soon returning to where it had been.

"Don't mind." his monotone voice replied.

Sighing softly, aware that she was not going to get through to him, Jenny nodded softly to herself.

"I'm… I'm doing breakfast." she tried again, "Do you want anything?"

"Don't mind." he repeated, his stare still gazing over at nothing in particular.

Pushing his lips together, growing a little frustrated, Jenny sighed a little louder than she intended.

"Are you gonna talk to me properly… _ever_?" she queried, making him turn back to face her as she span sharply on her heels and began to move towards the living area.

"I talk to you properly." he stated.

"When?!" Jenny shot back, stepping into the living area and making her presence known about, "When do you talk to me properly, Jethro?"

Gibbs' eyes tightened slightly, almost as if the statement made absolutely no sense to him. That in itself only infuriated her further.

"All the time." he answered, "Jesus Jen, why ya so uptight today?"

Jenny scoffed, her features tightening further.

"Uptight…? _Uptight?!_" she found herself repeating, the volume of her voice soon rising, "Is that what I am, Jethro, _uptight?_ I wonder why…"

Gibbs' brow soon fell, his levels of frustration growing as he pushed himself up onto his feet.

"What are you implyin'?" he quizzed, closing the distance between them, something which made her feel awfully uncomfortable. However, she didn't let it show.

Jenny shook her head. "You know what? Leave it." she near enough spat, about to move away from him and head upstairs.

However, a tight grip suddenly grabbed hold of her wrist and prevented her from doing so.

"No, Jenny." he stated coldly, making her look back towards his dark eyes, "Say what you wanna say."

Pulling her hand forcefully from his grip, a grip that he loosened easily enough, Jenny squared up to him. He may have been taller, and even with his cold, hard stare glaring down at her, she still knew how to stand her ground. She blamed his training back when she was an NCIS Agent under his command. _Oh, how times change…_

"I said: leave it!" she repeated.

Gibbs soon clenched his fists, a movement she certainly noticed rather quickly.

"Dammit, Jenny!" he near enough screamed, "What the hell are you playin' at?! What have I done to you?!"

Finding it almost laughable, Jenny mentally pushed passed her mental shock towards his outburst. Part of her was crying inside, pained as to why her once loving husband had become the man he was, but another part of her didn't feel bad to stand up to him. She couldn't let him walk all over her, nor treat her in the way he had been over the most recent fortnight.

"Go to hell, Jethro." she snapped, quickly turning away from him and escaping out of the unlocked front door, her car keys grabbed off the coffee table en route.

Slamming the door behind her, soon slipping away in her car, Jenny had no intention of going anywhere else but the office, the one place of sanctuary where she knew she could easily avoid him and still be with her friends. That was the beauty of having an office with a lockable door.

The tears forming as she drove bitterly stung both her eyes and throat and it soon occurred to her that she was still in her slacks, _damn…_ It wouldn't look good, the Director of a Federal Agency, arriving to work in sweatpants and worn out t-shirt. However, she continued of her way, adamant she wasn't going back home, she couldn't. After all, she had spare clothes at the office, _sorted…_

* * *

Being only eight o'clock in the morning, Ducky doubted he was the last person to arrive at NCIS that morning. Once parking up and exiting his beloved little car, he found himself humming a merry little tune as he locked up and headed to the entrance. _It was such a beautiful morning…_

Getting into the building and passed security was never a problem for the old doctor and by greeting everybody happily en route to the elevator, Ducky's morning just got better and better. He really did love his job, even though some poor souls had to die for him to be able to actually work.

As the elevator doors opened, Ducky's mood soon changed when he saw the Director stood inside. The first thing above all that he noticed was her clothes, clothes which looked nothing like the attire she usually wore… Had he missed a memo? Taking a step inside, his keen eyes soon picked up on other little details: her make-up free face; her red locks tied up in a scraggy, loose, and what looked like a quick ponytail; the red marks around her eyes from recently fallen tears. All those were indications not all was well with Director Shepard.

"Jennifer?" he found himself asking, receiving nothing more than a clearly false smile from the woman in question.

"Morning, Ducky." she sighed, rubbing her arm before clutching her elbow. It was the most uncomfortable feeling, it felt like she'd come to work in her pyjamas. It was as if everybody somehow had seen her or knew she was dressed inappropriately; despite the person who had actually seen her besides Ducky was the guard on the main entrance.

"Is everything alright, my dear?" he asked carefully, pressing the button for Autopsy as he spoke.

Jenny nodded barely, her appearance suggesting otherwise. He wasn't stupid, and she knew that. Sometimes she wished he was…

"I'm okay, Ducky." she swore as the elevator doors closed and it began to move, "I promise."

Ducky almost scoffed, shaking his head at her. "Jennifer…" he raised his eyebrow, "I think we'd better have a chat, don't you?"

The Director sighed, shaking her head. "No, Ducky. I can't." she protested, "I, I need to change."

Ducky nodded in a carefree manner. "Okay." he agreed lightly, "Then you come down to Autopsy… no arguments. I'll be expecting you in ten minutes."

Sighing loudly as the elevator stopped at the perfect time, she watched the doctor step out before biting into her lip. She knew Ducky well enough to know he wasn't joking…

"_Yes, sir…_" she trailed off, speaking mostly to herself and smiling genuinely for the first time that day as he disappeared behind the closing elevator doors.

* * *

Abiding to the allocated time given, Jenny soon changed into more appropriate attire in her office, surprised by how quickly she had managed to get herself looking decent. Her skirt and blouse were both neatly fitting around her body, perhaps a little tightly but acceptable. Her hair had been brushed and tied into a neater ponytail and her face now sported a minimal yet acceptable amount of make-up. Now all she had to do was go and face the doctor's interrogation which she knew was coming. That was something which scared her more than anything else, her husband's temper included.

As the elevator arrived at Autopsy and opened, Jenny felt her hands begin to quiver. Why on earth was she so nervous? It was only Ducky… Then again, why was _she_ doing as he had ordered? She was Director, not him. Surely she should have been the one calling the shots.

"Tea?" the Scottish doctor piped up as soon as the doors to the lab opened, gesturing for her to take a seat at his desk.

Laughing softly, Jenny cocked her eyebrow, slowing moving over to his desk and the chair which awaited her arrival.

"In Autopsy?" she sighed.

Ducky, who was actually sitting partly on his desk, smiled softly, his concern easily noticeable.

"You say that as though we've never done it before." he pointed out.

Smiling, Jenny sunk down onto her chair and picked up the already waiting cup off the desk. Inhaling the aroma, her smile increased drastically. It made a nice change from coffee…

"True…" she whispered in agreement, taking a sip and cherishing the taste. It was actually the first drink she had had in days which didn't upset her stomach, not that she should have been drinking it anyway.

Allowing a small silence to fall over them, Jenny finally looked up towards Ducky, cocking her eyebrow slowly. She knew what he wanted to know.

Sighing, Jenny balanced the china cup on her lap and looked down at it. "It's Jethro…" she confessed, answering his silent question, "I don't know, Ducky… We're just… we're just not seeing eye-to-eye at the moment."

Ducky sighed deeply. He more than anyone knew that the pair of them were struggling a little after learning of Abby's leukaemia. He guessed that like the rest of the team, the added stress and worrying over their colleague and valued friend was taking its toll on them.

"Ever since Abby told him she had cancer… I've lost him." Jenny admitted, slightly mesmerised by the partial reflection of her washed out face in the tea in her hands, "We just argue… all the time."

"Is that what happened this morning?" Ducky probed lightly, making Jenny sigh deeply in order to prevent a sob breaking through.

"Yeah…" she agreed shakily.

Watching her take another sip of tea, Ducky waited a moment.

"Have you tried talking to him about it?" he wondered.

Jenny laughed to herself, shaking her head. "We can barely get a word out without yelling…" she confessed softly, her voice breaking partially, "I think I'm gonna lose him, Ducky… and I don't wanna lose him."

"You need to talk to him, Jenny." Ducky explained softly, "You have to tell him how you feel…"

Jenny sighed, looking back up at him. "He's always with Abby." she told him, "And… and she needs him…"

"You need him too." Ducky pointed out, only making her shake her head.

"Not as much as she does…" she whispered, "It's wrong…"

Ducky's eyebrows shot up. "For what?" he almost cried, "Wanting to spend time with your husband? Granted, Abigail does need support, but you need him too. It's not selfish to want him to yourself sometimes, Jennifer… he's your husband."

Jenny forced down a gulp, her teeth sinking into her lip as a few silent tears found their way down her face.

"I wish he knew that…" she muttered, barely above a whisper.

Ducky felt his heart go out to her. She may have been Director, but she had a vulnerable side too, a side he doubted not many others barring him and Gibbs had seen, or probably ever would.

"He'll come 'round, Jenny." Ducky told her, "You know he will."

Jenny shook her head. "It won't be soon enough…" she trailed off, looking back up at the doctor, "I need him, Ducky… now more than ever…"

At first, Ducky took her statement to mean dealing with the knowledge of Abby and her illness. However, as the seconds passed and her face began to crease, he was sure there was more to it.

"Why do you say it like that…?" he asked, the concern which had begun to ease returning with a vengeance.

Jenny shook her head adamantly, fresh tears beginning to escape her eyes.

"You can't tell him, Ducky… please." she begged.

"I promise…" he swore, sighing deeply.

Jenny tried to continue but was unable to, concerning the old doctor further.

"Tell him _what_, Jennifer…?" Ducky pushed lightly. _Now he really was worried…_

* * *

Finding himself catching up on paperwork at his desk, the Director's earlier conversation still strongly on his mind, Ducky soon noticed the doors open. Smiling tiredly, his eyes soon widened when he saw Abby enter the lab, especially as he hadn't seen her for a few days.

He couldn't deny that she looked tired but she certainly looked a lot better than she possibly could have been, definitely better than he had expected.

"Hi, Ducky…" she smiled weakly.

"Abby." he greeted, glancing quickly down at his paperwork, "Just a second, I need to finish up this report."

Quickly trying to do as he said, Ducky continued but momentarily glanced up at the young woman, more than concerned when he saw her looking away from him, nearly seconds away from crying. _Oh dear…_

"Abby… what's the matter?" he queried lightly, quickly dropping his pen and looking over at her.

Abby sighed, biting her lip a little. "Do you have a minute, Ducky?" she asked timidly.

"Certainly." the doctor nodded, turning on his chair to face her.

Sighing, Abby fell against the empty table behind her. _Where could she start?_

"I… I just came from the hospital." she began slowly.

"Right." understood Ducky, "Was it another chemotherapy session or an appointment?"

"Appointment," Abby answered, soon messing with the slightly ripped hospital band tied around her wrist, "And my doctor… he told me there's a match on my bone marrow sample…"

Ducky couldn't contain the smile growing on his face.

"Abby, that's fantastic!" he boomed in his usual jovial voice, however, he couldn't help but notice her hesitance; "This is good news, isn't it?"

Abby quickly looked over, a sudden smile appearing on her face as she nodded.

"Yeah… yeah it is…" she trailed off.

Ducky sighed. "I don't understand what the problem is…" he confessed, "You should know this is really lucky to happen so soon. It usually takes months, sometimes years, to find a match outside the family…"

Abby sighed deeply. "Yeah, exactly…" she trailed off, looking up at the doctor, "But the guy who matches isn't _outside_ the family, so to speak… he's a _sibling_…"

Ducky frown deepened and eased within seconds, the old doctor unsure as to what Abby's problem was.

"Your brother's a match?" he queried.

Abby immediately shook her head. "No." she admitted, "Luca's away on business; he hasn't been tested yet… he, he doesn't even know fully what's wrong. I didn't want to worry him why he's away…"

"You haven't told your brother?" Ducky was surprised to say the least.

Abby shook her head. "He knows I've been having tests, but I didn't tell him what they found…" she confessed.

Ducky nodded slowly, his forehead beginning to support a deep frown.

"I don't understand." he admitted, returning to her earlier answer, "Why does your doctor think you and this other man are siblings?"

Abby sighed. "As part of the marrow donation process, DNA samples are taken." she explained, "His was a dead-on match for mine, Ducky… more than 99.9%. We'd have to be full-on brother and sister, wouldn't we?"

"I would imagine so…" the doctor answered slowly.

Abby shook her head slowly. "I just don't understand…" she whispered, "Why, why would my parents have given up a child…? I don't believe it…"

Sighing deeply, Abby tried to jump up onto the table behind her, frustrated that her weakened arms didn't give her enough support to do so. She hated that simple, everyday things that she used to take for granted and do almost subconsciously were becoming hard to achieve.

Moaning momentarily, she settled for just shifting her weight to the other side of her body and continuing to lean against the table, silently grateful that Ducky didn't interfere. That was the one thing that was starting to frustrate her deeply about everybody all of a sudden… she couldn't do one thing and they'd swarm around her to help. It wasn't as though she was an invalid yet they all seemed to treat her like it sometimes…

"I wanna meet him." she suddenly blurted out, making Ducky's eyes widen significantly, "I wanna know who he is… my brother."

"Are you sure that's wise… so soon?" Ducky queried, "24 hours ago, you didn't even know this man existed."

Abby nodded her head. "I know that, but I wanna know who he is." she confirmed, "Ducky, if this cancer has taught me anything, life's too short. There's no better time than now, I mean for all I know, I could be dead in a year…"

"Abby…" Ducky tried to stop. He didn't want to hear he talk like that.

"Well, it's true!" she cut him off, "I don't wanna wait to do this. I don't wanna waste time that I might not have… I wanna know my brother."

Ducky pressed his lips together, again finding himself lost for words. That was the second piece of news that day that had left him speechless…

* * *

Stood on the pavement outside the animal rescue store, Abby felt a shiver shoot down her spine. It was him… she was sure of it. With jet black hair and a gentle smile as he stroked the puppy he was holding, she could see the resemblance. Although, she doubted he'd be able to see it in her. She must have looked a mess… she just didn't have to energy to make herself look presentable in the mornings anymore. She didn't have the energy to spend minutes upon minutes putting make-up on. She didn't even have the energy to tie up her pigtails some mornings. She was lucky to manage to achieve a low ponytail before her arms cried out for mercy, especially the immediate day after a chemotherapy session.

Watching him through the store window, her fingers continuously rubbing her palm of her hand, Abby felt her heartbeat begin to increase as the young man lifted his head and smiled kindly at her.

Stepping to his left, the man continued to smile at her out of the store door, still stroking the little brick-red Irish Setter puppy in his hands.

"Cute, huh? He's got a great personality." he smiled, moving back a little as Abby stepped into the store, "Do you wanna hold him?"

Abby smiled, part of her dying to say yes. She always had loved animals, especially baby animals so that puppy was extremely tempting. However, she knew that after a few moments, the continuing weight of the little puppy could quite easily be a little too much for her weakening arms.

"Um, no…" she smiled, "Don't wanna hurt him."

The man frowned a little, his smile still beaming away. "You won't hurt him." he guaranteed.

"Trust me…" Abby trailed off.

Shrugging his shoulders, the man sighed lightly.

"Okay…" he agreed, looking closely at her while she shuffled on the spot, "Do… do I know you from somewhere?" he asked her after a moment.

Abby sighed deeply. "I wish…" she trailed off.

Intrigued, the man raised his eyebrows slightly. "What d'you mean?" he asked softly, his smile still glowing.

Abby sighed. _Now was as good a time as any…_

"You're… you're Kyle, aren't you?" she began, "Kyle Davis?"

The man's head bent to the side. "Yeah…" he answered softly, "Why?"

Abby noticeably shuffled on the spot. "You're a marrow donor…" she stated the obvious, making him frown a little more.

"You seem to know…" he continued to smile, albeit not as much as before, "And may I ask who you are…?"

She sighed, nodding with a silent apology.

"Abby, Abby Sciuto." she introduced, "You're… you're the match I need… and, and I know this shouldn't happen, but I had to meet you…"

Kyle's eyes lit up and his smile returned as he placed the puppy down in its enclosure.

"Oh…" he whispered.

Abby smiled a little with him, still needed to tell him exactly what she wanted.

"That's not all…" she admitted, further intriguing the young man, "I'm um… I'm also your sister… _biologically._"

The way his eyes widened at that statement made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge. With her heart pounding harshly in her chest, she failed to notice exactly what he said at first, but the gentle laugh from him which followed that slowly allowed her to calm down.

"Wow…" he repeated, making her smile properly for the first time.

"I, I know it's a little sudden and all that…" she explained slowly, "But after hearing about you from my doctor and that our DNA is an almost 100% match… I just had to meet you."

Kyle's smile somehow grew further. "I'm, I'm glad you did." he confessed after a moment, "I mean, I knew I was adopted, but I never knew I had a sister… wow."

In a flash, Abby gasped when she realised his arms had wrapped around her, tightly gripping her as a deep, underlying love suddenly surfaced within her body. It was the first time she'd ever met him yet she already loved him. It was as though he'd always been there, as though he'd always been apart of her life…

She soon completed the hug by wrapping her arms around him, something they both cherished before finally pulling her away. Smiling deeply and looking at him once they were apart, Abby sighed happily… _she'd met her brother._

It was then that for the first time, she saw his smile drop.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked suddenly, the situation as to how she'd found out they were related just occurring to him.

Abby sighed deeply. She knew they'd eventually have gotten to it.

"I um… I have leukaemia." she told him, "I've started chemo…"

"And now you need a marrow transplant?" he finished, still questioning to see if he was right.

Abby nodded, making him smile almost angelically in return.

"You'll get it from me, Abby." he stated adamantly, "I promise you that."

Abby scratched her arm a little, a small smile forming.

"You mean that?" she asked a little timidly.

"I promise." he nodded, "Whatever you need… you're my _sister_."


	6. I'm sorry

Chapter 6: "I'm sorry…"

Abby had reached the point where the Hickman line being inserted through her skin no longer hurt, well it did, but she had come to accept it. Her chemotherapy sessions over the past few weeks had made sure of that.

"Ow!" she cried suddenly when a different pain other than the line being inserted was registered by her brain.

Quickly moving her foot from off of Abby's, the nurse looked sheepishly at the young Goth.

"Oh, Abby, I'm sorry…" she apologised.

Laughing slightly, Abby shook her head and smiled in response. It hadn't really hurt if she was honest; it had just caught her off guard. That was obviously what had caused her to cry out… after all, she dealt with a hell of a lot worse on a daily basis, especially recently.

"All done." the nurse informed her after a moment, leaving Abby gazing down at the line as the pump was activated and the drugs began to flow.

It was the start of the next chapter in her treatment plan. For weeks, she had just been receiving chemotherapy a couple of times a week but now she was beginning a process known as conditioning, all thanks to her brother.

After arranging his bone marrow transplant with her doctor, she was having her body prepared for her part of the process. Her conditioning itself could last anywhere between four to seven days, and all that time she'd be stuck in protective isolation, or in other words: in hospital, alone. The idea of just sitting on her own in a chair for an entire week while drugs pumped around her body was rather unappealing but the fact that she knew it would kill off all the infected cells in order for her to have her transplant made it worth it. She was one step closer to recovering…

Looking down at the tattered identification band on her right wrist, Abby sighed and lifted her arm slightly.

"Can I have another one…?" she asked, smiling softly at the nurse.

Looking up from her clipboard, the nurse smiled. Abby had only literally just started her conditioning a minute beforehand and she was already bored. She supposed that she wasn't used to being cooped up in a hospital room alone, especially as her other sessions had been in a public room as they hadn't been as intense.

"I'll speak to the doctor." she smiled, "He'll be around in a little while."

Abby sighed yet again, her head falling back onto the back of her chair.

"Only a week…" she said aloud, "I can handle that."

"Good to know." the nurse laughed softly.

Suddenly lifting her head, Abby looked towards the nurse, all hints of her smile gone.

"Am I gonna lose my hair?" she asked in all seriousness, her hand grabbing her ponytail and trailing down it as she brought it over her shoulder.

The nurse sighed, shrugging her shoulders softly.

"I don't know…" she admitted quietly, "Not everybody who has chemotherapy looses their hair."

Abby nodded a little. "I know that…" she told her lightly, "But this is a _lot_ stronger than the other sessions I've had."

The nurse nodded in agreement. "Look, I really don't know if you will or won't… but as this is a good chance of helping you recover, does it matter?"

Abby immediately shook her head. "No!" she confirmed adamantly, "I was just wondering, that's all."

Understanding, the nurse quickly finished her notes on the clipboard before putting it back in the holder on the bottom of the bed Abby was sitting next to.

"I'll mention the band to Doctor Isafie." she promised, "I'll be back in a little while."

Abby sighed, nodding softly. "Okay." she understood.

_One week… that wasn't too long, right?_

* * *

Tapping her foot, her tongue pushing harshly against her inner cheek, Ziva found herself sighing deeply as the elevator came to a stop on the floor of the Forensic Lab. The lab itself was still under the watch of Miss Gabby Antalari, the Forensic Scientist who had certainly caught the eye of _Very Special _Agent DiNozzo, the agent who she, Gibbs and McGee had been waiting for for over fifteen minutes.

"Tony!" she yelled from the elevator.

He had only gone up to the lab to give Gabby the bullets Ducky had pulled from the bodies of their latest victims before they went to join the others and then head over to the crime scene. If Gibbs knew the reason he was so late in joining them was down to him flirting with Gabby, he'd probably kill him and they'd have another body to deal with.

Their victims were four male Marines, all shot four times each. Ducky had identified that the kill shots to all four of them were the bullets shot directly through the centre of their forehead and therefore brains. The other three just seemed to be there to make sure the men were dead, one through the heart and the other two through each eye. _Not a pretty sight…_

"How long does it take to bring up a bunch of slugs?!" she cried, stepping off the elevator and heading towards the open door opposite her.

Crossing the corridor's width within a few steps, Ziva didn't notice that she couldn't hear any movement inside the lab or voices at all for that matter.

Turning her head slightly as she stepped through the door, Ziva's eyes widened at the sight of a rough-looking man, dressed in black, stood holding a gun up in her direction. Within a split second before the man even had a chance to blink, Ziva's handheld gun was out of its holster and aimed towards him.

With a large, bloody graze across his left temple, the man looked as though he'd been through the wars. His thick, black jacket had a large rip on the left shoulder and blood from the graze on his head was starting to trickle down the side of his face, getting lost in the field of whiskers down his cheek.

"Put it down!" the man ordered gruffly, "Now!"

Ziva stood her ground, the gun remaining put. From where she was, she could see DiNozzo on the floor, his handcuffs cuffing one of his hands to the leg of the counter near to the Mass Spectrometer. Just behind him, Gabby was also sat on the floor, holding a bloody bandage against her thigh with one hand while the other was similarly handcuffed to another counter leg.

"What did you do to her?" Ziva queried.

"I said put it down!" the man repeated.

"Tell me what you did!" Ziva demanded, taking a step closer to the intruder. _Bad idea…_

The last thing she saw was Tony releasing the breath he was holding before out of nowhere, a large force came towards her temple, making her momentarily blackout from a rather painful blow. By the time she came around, in what must have only been a minute or two at most, the first thing she noticed was the pain in her head. Trying to bring her left hand to her temple, one she was pretty confident was bleeding, Ziva found it was restricted. It didn't take her long to realise she too was handcuffed, right next to Tony. _Brilliant…_

"Ziva, look at me." she heard the man in question order lightly yet forcefully, "Ziva!"

Her eyes rolled as she fully awoke, her vision blurred at first and she certainly felt a little disoriented. However, she somehow managed to do as he asked, relieved that the dizziness was passing pretty quickly.

"I don't think you've got a concussion, but I'm not sure…" he confessed.

"I am fine, Tony." she insisted, looking towards Gabby who smiled extremely weakly at her.

"What happened to you?" she enquired.

All she got was a small shake of the head in response.

"It was nothing…" Gabby insisted.

"It looks like a bullet wound." Ziva stated, turning her head to see not one man but two men, both looking down at her.

"That's because it was, sweetheart." he smirked, "Didn't mean to hit her, just scare her off…"

Ziva sighed, looking between the two men. "Who are you?" she asked, "What do you want?"

Sighing, the first man bounced up onto the tabletop to sit down.

"Well, my little idiot of a brother here really messed up after I killed those marines." he began to explain, "He was supposed to dispose of the bodies but your stupid friends found 'em first. We need you to stop the evidence pointing towards us and then help us get away from here. Either do that or you die."

Ziva laughed slightly, shaking her head. "I'd rather die." she shrugged her shoulders, "I won't help you."

The first man looked to the other one, laughing lightly before jumping off the counter and swiftly aiming his gun towards her, certainly more impressed by the new woman's attitude than the other one's.

"Are you sure about that?" his eyebrows quirked up.

Ziva smirked, showing no hint of fear despite the fact she was defenceless.

"Alright, come on!" DiNozzo broke through the silence, deeply wishing there was a way to alert the rest of the building as to what was happening while the man closed the distance of the gun towards Ziva's forehead, "Enough with empty threats… You won't get any help from us by using threats."

"Tony…" the young scientist tried to stop. It wasn't her fault she was scared. She was a scientist; she wasn't used to being in those kinds of situations.

Ziva had felt in control throughout her entire exchange with the man, even though he had been threatening to kill her. However, seeing the way his head rolled towards DiNozzo after he spoke made her feel very uncomfortable.

"An _empty_ threat…?" he repeated slowly, somehow stopping himself from scoffing, "Is that all you think I'm capable of?"

With a swift, fast swing of his arm, both Ziva and Tony jumped as the loud gunshot went off, the noise echoing in Ziva's ears for several seconds. Her heart was pounding hard against her ribcage, part of her confused as to what had just happened but the other part terrified to actually find out.

Turning her head, her stomach rolled when she saw the lifeless body of the Forensic Scientist. Still handcuffed to the counter leg, in a position which was impossible for a living person to be in, her body was slumped against the counter itself and the floor, soon finding itself in a pool of blood, running fast out of both the bullet wound in her leg and a fresh wound in her forehead.

"An empty threat, Blade…" the man repeated, looking at his brother as he moved away, "That was just an _empty _threat…"

* * *

The alert of a suspected shooter put the building into immediate lockdown, and it most certainly kicked Gibbs into action. Within less than an hour, he felt a surge of pride seeing the two once-armed intruders handcuffed and being detained by FBI agents who had been brought in to handle the investigation. However, his pride had come with a costly price…

Gibbs honestly did hate how he had treated Gabby over the last few weeks. He had been way too cold towards her. Like he had come to realise, it hadn't been her fault she wasn't Abby. It hadn't been her fault she was the scientist in the lab, not the one he wanted. Now he hadn't even got the chance to apologise to her…

Stood just outside the lab door which had been taped off as the FBI's latest crime scene, Gibbs only wanted to make sure his two agents were okay before he left. It had been a bad day and all he wanted was to get out of there as soon as possible.

Inside the lab, both Tony and Ziva hadn't moved from their spots on the floor, despite the fact they had been released from their restraints by the FBI agents. Both the FBI and a number of EMT's rushed around the pair, creating a rather hectic scene. However, the busier it got, the more Ziva found herself blocking it out. She had lost people she worked with before, many in fact, but never quite in the way in which Gabby had been lost.

Still sat in the late woman's blood, another fact she had blocked out, Ziva watched as Gabby's body was zipped up into a body bag and moved onto a stretcher. That made it very final; she was dead. The poor woman had only been apart of their team for a few weeks, and she was already dead. _It wasn't right…_

An EMT soon came over and tried to move the shock-ridden agent, but Ziva didn't move a muscle… she couldn't. Her body was just numb. The image of the young woman's dead body, her blood-soaked blonde hair and dry, open eyes were just two of the gruesome details firmly stamped in her memory.

Tony watched Ziva intensely as the EMT dressed the wound on her head, something he was pretty sure she wasn't really aware of. He could see she was strongly battling with her emotions, _and loosing…_

Sighing to himself, Tony reached out and tightly gripped Ziva's hand, finally getting a reaction from her as she turned to face him. Albeit, she near enough looked through him but it was more of a response from her than the EMT had got.

"Ziva, come on." he whispered, "Let me get you out of here…"

Staring blankly past him, she somehow managed to shake her head which was resting against the counter behind her.

"I screwed up today, Tony…" she confessed, barely above a whisper which made it hard for Tony to hear.

"No… no, you didn't." he countered, "Ziva, this is not your fault."

Tony watched as her scrunched up lips began to quiver. At that moment, she definitely didn't look like the strong Mossad-trained agent who he had been partners with for the past six years.

"I should have heard him… I should have known he was there the moment I stepped off the elevator." she admitted.

"Ziva…" Tony tried to reason.

"I was trained by Mossad to notice things like that…" she continued, clearly close to tears, "None of this should have happened."

"Ziva…" Tony repeated, tightening his grip on her head, "It's a risk that comes with the job."

For the first time, Ziva turned to fully look at Tony, her eyes dark with so much raw emotion; even he could feel her pain.

"She was _not _an agent!" Ziva snapped, "_She_ was never supposed to be in _that_ kind of danger!"

Looking down at the blood she was still covered in, Ziva nearly broke.

"And… And I can't even say that I'm sorry…" she nearly cried.

Looking back to Tony, her behaviour hurting him almost as much as seeing Gabby's murder, Ziva shook her head hurriedly.

"Why, Tony…? Why didn't I notice?" Ziva almost begged for an answer, "Why did I let her die…?"

Holding back from screaming, Ziva let her head drop; tightly gripping onto Tony's outstretched arms for support. He knew that whatever he said wouldn't help her so instead he remained silent.

Pulling her closer, leaning his face against her hair, Tony did his best to support her. _God, she really was struggling… and he didn't like seeing her like that._

He had noticed a change in all her behaviour ever since finding out about Abby. Gone was the typical, strong Ziva who knew how to keep her emotions in check around the others. Now she was much more open, clearly suffering with worry and stress that she was trying to conceal. He suspected that trying to keep it all bottled up was her biggest problem. As she never directly spoke to anyone about anything, it was making it hard for her deal with anything else, evidently why Gabby's death was hurting her so much… In classic Ziva style, she didn't want to appear weak in front of those she cared about.

"C'mon Ziva, please…" Tony whispered into her hair, "Let me get you home…"

Relenting as she couldn't really find much energy to do anything else, Ziva allowed Tony to help her up onto her unsteady feet. Once up, the pair allowed a FBI Agent to escort them upstairs in order to get sorted. The sooner they did that, the sooner they could go home… get the day over with.

* * *

Director Shepard had not had a good day for more than one reason. It hadn't got off to a good start after being up most the night. That had all been down to a lingering pain in her abdomen which had near enough been stabbing her all night if she remained in the same position for more than a second. Obviously, that had made her very tired and moody, something the ample amounts of paperwork which had appeared on her desk overnight hadn't helped.

However, none of that had mattered the moment the building went into secure lockdown. All the paperwork was immediately pushed aside and she had to work past the pain and deal with the threat inside the Agency's Headquarters. It may have all been over in less than a couple of hours but those hours had come with a price, a price she hadn't like at all.

Standing on the catwalk as the FBI escorted the two men responsible for both the marines from Gibbs' case and Gabby's murder to the elevator, the Director soon spotted her husband – or rather her likely soon to be ex-husband – enter the bullpen. Just seeing him made her want to cry… she still loved him, more than she had ever loved anything or anyone, but what was the point in loving him when she got absolutely nothing in return? She honestly couldn't even remember the last time they'd spoken.

Not long after the day when she ran away from her home to get away from him, he'd gone back to not coming home… a small miracle in a terrible situation. Her unwanted problems which she had told Ducky about seemed to be coming true; she really was loosing him.

Watching him go over to his desk, Jenny saw him reach down to his bottom draw and retrieve his car keys. Continuing on his way towards the elevator, not even stopping for a breath, she immediately knew exactly where he was going…

"Jethro…?" she called.

She felt the knot in her stomach tighten as he suddenly stopped before spinning on his heels to face her.

"What?" he asked lightly, making her heart flutter as a gruff noise wasn't what escaped his lips.

Jenny sighed, her face slightly creased. "Where…" she trailed off momentarily, "Where are you going?"

Gibbs raised his one eyebrow at her, looking up at her as if it should have been obvious.

"To see Abby." he stated simply.

Jenny released a breath she hadn't intended to hold, her head dropping slightly as she rubbed her temple and down the side of her face.

"Of course you are…" she muttered. _She had known really…_

Gibbs' brow creased as he looked up at his wife.

"Is that some sort of problem?" he queried, internally confused as to why she was acting as though it was… Didn't she realise Abby needed support from her friends at the moment?

"No…" Jenny trailed off, shaking her head, "But can't it wait for a few minutes?"

Gibbs involuntarily scoffed. "Jen, I wanna get on the road!" he protested like a young child.

Jenny felt the familiar sting return to the back of her throat, the best indication that her emotions were getting the best of her.

"Two minutes?!" she almost cried at him, "Is two minutes too much to ask?"

Gibbs shrugged his shoulders. "Okay…" he agreed in a slow, confused manner, "What do you want?"

Jenny felt her heavy heart drop further into her chest. _Why the hell was she even trying? Was it such a problem for her to want to speak to her own husband?_

Shaking her head softly, Jenny sighed to herself.

"You know what, Jethro?" she stated softly, seeing no point in starting an argument with him, "Just leave it. Go and see Abby… You obviously wanna see her more than you ever wanna see me."

Turning away, Jenny ran up the other flight of steps and headed to her office, leaving Gibbs baffled by what had just occurred between them.

Sighing deeply once she had closed her office door, Jenny fell back onto it in order to compose herself. Her aching heart just seemed to be overpowering her at that moment and it certainly wasn't aiding the physical pain she had been trying to ignore all day. Granted it wasn't as strong as it had been but it was definitely still there.

After a needed moment, Jenny pushed herself up off the door before going over to her desk and sitting down in the awaiting chair. Over the last few weeks, that chair had been her sanctuary, the only place she could sit and somehow feel safe. It was sad to think that Gibbs' arms were once that place, the place above all others that felt the safest possible.

Roughly pulling the already loosening hair tie out of her slightly knotted locks, Jenny let her head fall back onto the back rest. For a few calm moments, she found herself cherishing the silence; however, it didn't last long…

Near enough seconds after she had sat down, her office door burst open in the classic Gibbs' style which she had silently found herself missing.

"Oh, you _do_ remember the way to my office." she said aloud, opening her eyes as she did so, "Or did you just take a wrong turn somewhere? If you want the way out, just go back the way you came."

Stood there, a deeply confused frown embedded into his brow, Gibbs shook his head.

"What the hell are you playin' at?!" he asked without shouting but forcefully enough to show his agitation.

Jenny shrugged her shoulders, leaning her head back on her chair.

"_I obviously wanna see Abby more than I ever wanna see you?!_" he partially repeated her sentence, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

Jenny briefly cocked her eyebrows up. "Thought it sounded pretty self explanatory." she admitted.

Scoffing, Gibbs shook his head. "Jenny, what the hell is goin' on with you?!" he cried.

Jenny closed her eyes for a moment, sighing deeply.

"Jethro, please…" she begged, "I don't wanna start another argument, not today."

Gibbs shook his head again. "Any why would we argue?" he queried.

Now it was Jenny's turn to scoff. "Are you being serious…?" she had to question, "It's all we ever bloody do anymore! That it, when you ever come home… I mean, _do _you come home anymore?"

Gibbs found his frown deepening as his eyes rolled.

"Of course I come home!" he told her.

"Really… when?!" Jenny queried, "I go to bed about eleven, twelve and you're never there, and I wake up at six to an empty house… do you just come while I'm asleep or are you just very good at playing hide-and-seek?"

Gibbs shook his head, glaring unknowingly at his wife sat in the chair before him.

Jenny sighed, looking up at the man towering over her. He still looked like the man she loved, but she serious wondered if the feeling was returned anymore…

Finding her lip being bitten into, Jenny gulped as her mind toyed with the question on the tip of her tongue. _Should she or shouldn't she continue?_

Messing nervously with her hands on the wooden surface, Jenny finally looked him directly in the eye, her strong front melting within a second.

"Do… do you even love me anymore?" she had to ask, her voice unable to be louder than a whisper due to her oncoming tears which were beginning to make their way to the surface.

Actually feeling his eyes widen, Gibbs automatically moved over to the open door and pushed it shut, the noise making an already nervous Jenny tense further. Her eyes never left him as he approached her desk, firmly placing both his hands on the wood as he came to a stop.

Leaning down, Jenny felt her leg begin to shake underneath the desk as he began to shake his head slowly in disbelief of the words he had just heard her say.

"What, kind of question, is that?" he had to ask, broken and slow, his deep frown the most defined feature on his face.

Feeling a bout of courage surface, pushing past her threatening tears, Jenny managed to look back directly at him.

"A serious one." she shot back, her voice a little more stable than it had been as she leaned up towards him, "I never see you anymore, Jethro."

Gibbs couldn't stop the eye roll which followed, his brain too confused to keep up with what she was trying to tell him.

"You see me all the time!" he exclaimed, his hands flying up along with the volume of his voice.

Sighing, Jenny fell back into her chair, looking away and shaking her head as her tears once again pushed passed the little bit of fight she had left inside her.

"You're doing it again…" she muttered, her voice quiet again.

Gibbs found himself wanting to scream in frustration but somehow he managed to keep his temper in check. He didn't want to yell at her but he was certainly getting wound up.

"Doing what?!" he ultimately cried.

Looking briefly at him as she began to shake her head, Jenny managed to suppress the first sob.

"You're not _listening _to me…" she told him, her voice stressing as her eyes began to release the salty water which had been building up. She hadn't got the energy keep herself together any longer.

Gibbs sighed deeply, his frown easing as he saw her begin to break down in front of him. He really did hate seeing her upset.

"Look…" Gibbs began calmly, his heart beginning to hurt as he watched her, "It's been a long, _bad _day… And, and you're tired, and exaggerating…"

Feeling herself break inside, Jenny shook her head as her cheeks became the classic waterfalls they had seemed to become many times over the past few weeks.

"Yes, and I'm pregnant as well, Jethro!" she snapped, looking directly at him as she rose on her unsteady feet, soon shaking her head as her only defence against any more tears, "Like you've been around to notice…"

Gibbs had certainly been confused by most of the conversation the pair had exchanged that night, but he had heard that. Throughout all the confusion, he had most certainly let _that_ register.

Quickly drying her eyes with her sleeves, leaving her dumbfound husband watching her with wide eyes, Jenny sighed shakily.

"I'm going home." she whispered, her voice loosing its sound as it broke.

"Jenny…" he could barely protest as she grabbed her jacket and quickly escaped the room, his eyes glued to her as she disappeared from his sight, "Jenny, wait!"

By the time Gibbs reached the overlook of the bullpen before going down the first flight of stairs to the catwalk, something which took him less than ten seconds; Jenny was already at the open elevator and stepping inside. There was no way he'd get there before it closed.

Watching her disappear with heavy eyes and an even heavier heart, Gibbs didn't notice anyone approach from the other elevator, until the person spoke that was.

"Boss?" the person asked.

Turning his head and looking down, Gibbs sighed.

"What d'ya want, McGee?" he asked a little sharply.

McGee, feeling a little uncomfortable as he could see he'd interrupted something between his two bosses, sighed deeply.

"The FBI want to speak with you before you go." he informed him.

Bouncing harshly down the steps, McGee saw Gibbs shake his head adamantly.

"McGee, tell them as kindly as possible to stick it…" he began to say.

"Strong words there, Jethro." a voice interrupted, appearing behind his younger agent.

Gibbs shook his head as he stopped at the bottom of the staircase.

"I'm not in the mood, Tobias." he warned, "Not tonight."

Tobias Fornell was about to object, however, upon seeing the face of his old friend properly, he could clearly see he wasn't joking. Surely the young scientist's death hadn't got him _that _upset…? He did honestly look so white that he was pretty sure he was about to either throw up or keel over.

"Jethro?" he had to ask, visibly concerned.

Gibbs just shook his head. "I _can't_ tonight, Tobias…" he ultimately begged, heading towards the elevator to leave.

"Two minutes." he stated, "You know I can't let you leave until we have your statement."

"Tobias…" Gibbs stressed, desperate to step into the elevator which had just arrived.

"Jethro." Fornell countered, aware of the other agent's desire to leave, "I promise I'll be quick."

Sighing in frustration, Gibbs ultimately smacked the divider of the desks as he returned to his usual side of the bullpen, making McGee and Fornell's eyes widen a little.

"Oh, you better be." he warned.

* * *

Gibbs probably would have killed Fornell if it wouldn't have prevented him getting home sooner. If almost an hour was Fornell's definition of two minutes, the older FBI agent really did need to get himself some help.

Pulling up on his driveway, Gibbs soon noticed the darkness his home seemed to be sitting in. He couldn't imagine Jenny managing to sleep after the state she had been in when she left Headquarters and the fact that her car was parked parallel to his did indicate she was at home…

Sighing deeply as he got out of the car, the closer he got to the door, the more his eyes picked up on a dim light which seemed to be coming from the living area. Pulling on the door handle, Gibbs couldn't stop himself from grunting in frustration when he found the door was locked… typical Jenny he supposed.

Tapping lightly on the glass, Gibbs looked in the direction of the living area.

"C'mon Jen, please…" he begged softly, "Open up."

It took mere seconds before Gibbs finally saw her head towards the front door, albeit slowly. As soon as the lock was released, Gibbs let himself in while Jenny returned silently to the living area, settling back down on the sofa, facing away from him in what he guessed was the same position she had been sitting in before.

Once he'd joined her in the living area, Jenny did turn her head to look in his direction but she didn't look up to face him… she couldn't.

Sighing loudly, Jenny rolled her shoulders slightly, her arms wrapped tightly around her pulled up knees.

"Where've you been, Jethro?" she asked, her voice still weak. It didn't take him long to realise she had been crying not too long beforehand.

Gibbs sat down on the armchair nearest to her.

"Fornell wanted my statement." he explained in a regretful manner. He hadn't meant to be away for so long.

Jenny nodded softly, soon allowing an uncomfortable silence to fall over the couple. Neither of them could find words to say, either that or didn't wish to brave the silence first…

"The um… the baby…" Gibbs finally found the courage to mention, "Its, its wonderful news."

Jenny laughed lightly to herself. "Is it?" she queried, still unable to look at him. However, as soon as the question was off her lips, that didn't matter as he literally bounced up from his seat and ended up kneeling before her, looking directly up into her eyes.

"Yes." he insisted.

Gulping as her lip began to quiver; Jenny shook her head, physically unable to speak for the moment.

"I'm so sorry, Jenny…" he apologised, gripping onto her hands she had released from around her knees, "I never meant to hurt you…"

Jenny sighed shakily, gripping onto his hands like if she let go, she'd loose him again.

"Why…?" she managed to ask.

Gibbs pulled himself up onto the sofa next to her, her eyes following his every move.

He knew she was asking why he'd distanced himself, something he had to admit to himself that he had done when he thought about it.

"Honestly…?" he trailed off.

Jenny only nodded, her grip on his hands tightening, something he seemed to mirror himself.

"I… I didn't want you to see what was happenin' to her, to Abby… I, I thought it would have hurt you too much…" he confessed, "You're the closest thing she has to a mother, and I know how close the pair of you are."

Jenny nodded slightly, partially understanding his reasons.

"You dealt with it yourself… so I didn't have to see her… suffer?" she tried to reword, "Why, Jethro… why do that to yourself? Why _push _me away?"

Gibbs never cried, _never, _but he started to feel himself start as he sat there, silently begging her to forgive him. God, he had been horrid towards her… his own wife.

"Because I love you too much…" he whispered, "I didn't want you to hurt over her."

Jenny shook her head, her tears spilling before his did.

"You're the one whose hurt me…" she confessed in a broken manner, feeling his hands grip hers tighter as she spoke.

"I know…" he could barely speak, "And I'm so sorry."

Jenny gulped back her next load of tears, feeling her breathing get heavier.

"I still don't understand why…" she admitted, "_You_ haven't been coping since you found out…"

"I know…" he agreed quietly, "And I've taken it out on you… There I was tryin' not to let you hurt over her and instead I've been hurtin' you… I am so, _so,_ sorry, Jenny…"

Feeling herself struggle to fight further tears, especially as she saw his eyes begin to leak, Jenny physically began to shake as she violently reached for him, crashing into his chest as his equally needy arms tightly wrapped around her. She soon buried her head into his shoulder, the grip from her palms tightening further on his shoulders as the seconds passed and soon she was openly sobbing into his chest, something which made Gibbs tighten his grip around her.

"I… I really thought I'd lost you." she confessed, all her pain from over the past couple of weeks slowly dissolving the longer she remained in his arms.

Sighing deeply into her hair, planting a firm kiss into it, Gibbs shook his head.

"I'm sorry." he repeated once again, "I really am, Jen…"


	7. I'm alright

Chapter 7: "I'm alright…"

Gibbs had been an idiot, he knew that. With how he had been towards his wife over the past few weeks – cold, angry, argumentative – he really did understand just how lucky he was to still have her. He could have lost her so easily, and he knew that that would have hurt him more…

Moaning softly as the morning sun began to force him awake, Gibbs found himself sighing before rolling onto his side and reaching for his wife's waist, pulling her gently closer. He was rather glad he was finally being open with her now. The support she gave him without even trying was certainly something he hadn't realised he had needed.

"Mornin'." he greeted softly, aware she was stirring at his side.

Rolling her head against the pillow, Jenny turned enough to see his face, her smile growing as she began to focus on his soft features.

"Morning." she replied, soon allowing her lips to exchange in a chaste kiss with him, something she deeply loved finally experiencing once again.

Nuzzling gently into her hair, his fingers absent-mindedly tracing down her side, Gibbs moved his mouth closer to her ear hiding under her messy locks.

"How you feelin' this mornin'?" he asked quietly.

Sighing deeply, Jenny allowed her heavy eyelids to close for a moment.

"I'm alright." she answered, leaning a little closer to him.

Scoffing softly in her ear, Jenny felt him kiss just above it before once again snuggling closer to her.

"Liar…" he whispered, "You've been awake most the night."

Moaning, Jenny found herself shaking her head into the pillow.

"I woke you…" she realised softly, "I'm sorry."

Assisting her as she rolled off her side and onto her back, Gibbs shook his head lightly before brushing her hair out of her face.

"You didn't wake me." he promised, looking her directly in the eye, "Do you honestly think I can sleep properly knowing you're in pain next to me?"

Jenny smiled softly up at him. "It isn't that bad." she insisted.

For the first time Gibbs frowned, perching himself up on his elbow.

"You were almost cryin', Jen…" he pointed out, sighing deeply as he paused for a moment, "This has been goin' on all week. I really do think its time you go and see a doctor."

"Jethro…" she tried to protest.

"At least Ducky…" he suggested.

"No…" she moaned, rolling onto her side to face him, "I don't want anyone at work knowing, not yet."

Sighing, Gibbs shook his head softly. "They're gonna know eventually, Jen." he pointed out.

Jenny shifted into a more comfortable position.

"But not yet…" she almost begged, "Come on, Jethro… _you've_ only known a week. Why can't _we_ just enjoy this for a little while, just the two of us…?"

Gibbs almost found himself rolling his eyes but he managed to stop himself.

"How are we supposed to enjoy it if you feel so bad?" he queried, "It isn't normal, Jen… I think you forget I've been a father before…"

"Jethro, I'm okay…" she insisted.

Pushing himself up a little more, Gibbs looked down at his wife. He may have distanced himself from her for a while, something he did deeply regret, but he still knew her too well for her liking sometimes.

"You're _okay _isn't good." he stated, almost receiving a protest which stopped before it started when his eyes met hers, "Am I right…?"

The silent response was all Gibbs needed to hear. Jenny always had been too stubborn for her own good. He doubted he'd ever see the day that she'd admit she didn't feel well. If that day ever came, he knew it would be serious.

"Look… if it gets any worse, I'll book an appointment." she told him, "Deal?"

Gibbs laughed softly to himself, leaning closer to her face.

"Well, I suppose that's the best I'm gonna get." he smiled softly, leaning fully down and stealing another kiss from her moist lips, "Just don't be a hero, Jenny… please, not with this."

Rolling her eyes, Jenny smiled up at him. "Okay," she agreed, "I promise you I won't."

* * *

Both Director Shepard and Agent Gibbs had not yet arrived at work that morning when DiNozzo, McGee and Ziva heard Gibbs' phone on his desk ring out. As it continued, the three agents found themselves looking between each other, all eager to see who would be the bravest one and dare to go over and answer it. After all, they all were pretty certain that the second they did so, their boss would appear out of nowhere and deliver his famous slap around the back of their heads.

The phone continued to ring, making the self-promoted Agent-in-Charge, Tony DiNozzo, look towards the other male agent in the bullpen.

"Probie." he called down to McGee, "Answer the phone."

McGee's brow immediately fell. "You answer it!" he shot back.

"Um, Senior Field Agent." he stated, physically pointing to himself in the process.

"Um, Agent who doesn't care." McGee answered back, mimicking the way Tony had spoken to him and also copying the action of pointing to himself as he spoke.

"_Very Special_ Senior Field Agent…"

"_Still _not caring Field Agent…"

While the two of them futilely tried to persuade the other to answer the still-ringing phone, Ziva, who had to physically stop herself from watching the pair battle it out, rolled her eyes and swiftly went over to Gibbs' empty desk.

Grabbing the phone immediately silenced the two men and strangely, the expected head slap didn't find its way to the back of her head so she just continued with the call.

"Agent David." she introduced, partly listening to Dispatch on the phone line but also listening out for Gibbs. Surely he would appear anytime soon and answering the phone off his desk would certainly not go down well, "Right, okay… okay, thank you."

Placing the phone back down on the holster, Ziva turned to face the two silent agents, both who were eagerly awaiting for her to explain.

"Gear up." she smirked, slightly mimicking Gibbs' usual order; "We're needed Downtown."

"How many bodies?" McGee questioned, packing up his stuff and then crossing the room to grab the keys to the van from out of Gibbs' desk draw.

"We'll find out when we get there, McCurious." Tony pointed out, almost snatching the keys from McGee's hand, "I'm driving."

"Why not me?" Ziva protested.

Both laughing together, Agents DiNozzo and McGee shook their heads in sync before continuing towards the elevator.

"Did you hear that, Probie?" smiled DiNozzo.

"Oh, that's funny…" McGee contributed; making Ziva roll her eyes as the pair she began to follow fell back into a game a verbal tennis with comments on her driving.

Meanwhile, down at the local hospital, Gibbs and Jenny had just arrived at the isolation ward. As Abby was in her one of her final days of the conditioning process, she still remained in isolation to prevent getting any infections. However, visitors were still allowed providing they remained outside of the room and in the ward's corridor. That's where Gibbs and Jenny came in…

Stood outside the glass barrier to her isolation room, the pair were greeted by a tired and yet ecstatic grin from their young friend.

"Gibbs… Director." she greeted weakly.

Both smiled softly at her, Jenny a little shocked by the drastic change in the young woman's appearance. It had only been a few weeks since she had last visited and she was a little caught off guard. The once energetic, full-of-life young scientist was certainly not who she was looking at.

Sighing softly, not enough to be noticed by Abby but enough for Gibbs, Jenny found his arm slowly wrapping around her waist. He'd been expecting it… obviously.

"Hey." Gibbs greeted softly, "How ya doin', Abbs?"

Abby laughed lightly to herself, showing Jenny she hadn't fully lost her sense of humour.

"Been better, but 'suppose I've been worse too," she smiled, "But it's worth it, I guess. After Kyle's op later, I'll only have a couple more days to wait 'til my surgery."

Like a proud mother, Jenny found herself smiling at her response. Even after everything she'd been through so far, she was staying positive. _Good for her…_

However, as quick as it was for her to smile, Abby found herself falling forward from her sitting position on the bed, retching violently into a bowl the attending nurse on duty managed to provide just in the nick of time.

"Sorry…" she apologised after a moment, regaining her breath, mostly to Gibbs and Jenny but also to the nurse.

"Its okay, Abbs… we'll be leavin' you alone very shortly anyway." he promised, aware the nurse would more than likely asking them to go soon.

"You don't have too…" she insisted to the pair before silently thanking the nurse for her help.

It was then that Jenny was overcome by a sudden stab of sharp pain in the one side of her lower abdomen, a definite sudden increase in what she had been experiencing.

Briefly moaning for a split second, Jenny was rather glad a chair was literally just behind her knees and therefore allowed her to fall back onto it. Her husband's hand soon found its way to her lower back as she sat there, allowing herself to overcome the uncomfortable ache which had swiftly appeared.

"Director…?" Abby asked, her concern rapidly mounting.

"I'm alright, Abby…" she promised automatically, her breathing deepening as she let the next few moments pass.

"Jen…?" Gibbs had to check, knowing full well that she was a little better as the colour was returning to her cheeks. However, the incident itself still proved that she was still in pain… _he had been right._

"What's wrong?" Abby asked, a deep frown overtaking her tired features.

Sighing deeply, Jenny was aided to her feet by Gibbs, the frown from Abby soon hitting her hard when she looked over at her.

"Oh, um… I'm pregnant, Abby." she explained softly, her hand still holding the right side of her abdomen.

Just as the pair had silently been hoping, Abby's eyes lit up and her frown was soon drowned out by an enormous smile, something the pair soon softly mirrored.

"Aww… a Giblet's baby!" Abby squeaked, making Jenny silently turn to look up at Gibbs while she continued.

"_Giblet?_" Jenny mouthed in amused curiosity.

In response, Gibbs just happily shook his head, quickly leaning down to her.

"Just go with it…" he whispered in her ear, quickly kissing her hair before looking back at Abby.

Clearly somehow gaining a little more energy, Abby managed to swing her legs off the side of her bed and she looked over towards the pair, soon silencing the protests from the nurse.

"So, how long have you known?" she asked in a buzz, the news having filled her with a warmth she hadn't felt for a while.

Smiling softly with only half her mouth, Jenny briefly looked up at Gibbs. Even he didn't really know the answer to that question.

"Um, I found out about a week… before you told us about, you know…" she answered slowly.

Jenny felt Gibbs' grip around her waist tighten the moment the words were out of her mouth, soon making her turn to look up and face him.

"You… you knew all that time." he trailed off, his guilt from the past few weeks returning with a drastic force. She'd known for that long and been unable to say anything to him because of his stupid behaviour.

Abby soon noticed the way Gibbs' voice had changed, suddenly aware there either was or had recently been a problem between the two and no matter how curious she was, she knew it wasn't her place to ask.

Gripping his hand, Jenny gave him a reassuring smile before turning back to Abby; all that was behind them now.

"Anyway," Jenny continued, "We'd like to ask you something."

Abby's eyebrows raised slowly, her curiosity piquing.

"We'd um…" Gibbs began, pausing for a moment, "We were wondering if you'd like to be Godmother."

Both watched on as the young woman's eyes widened a little and a soft smile began to grow on her lips. However, they also saw her hesitation.

"Are… are you sure?" she asked.

Knowing she only asked because of her health, Gibbs fell into one of his famous stares, a stare Abby had very rarely been the receiver of before.

"Ya know, you're lucky you're behind that thing." Gibbs pointed out, referring to the glass wall.

Frowning softly, Abby let her head fall to the side a little.

"Why…?" she had to ask, a smile hovering over her lips.

"Because he would have hit you for saying that…" Jenny smirked softly.

Shaking her head, Abby looked towards the Director.

"Gibbs never hits me." she smiled, looking back towards the man in question.

"Then stop thinkin' so negatively." he ordered, albeit softly, "I've told you before: you're not _allowed_ to think like that."

Laughing lightly, Abby shook her head. She knew that their offer to be Godmother was something they were giving her to look forward to, and their plan was most certainly succeeding.

"Okay…" Abby agreed, "Yeah."

Finally dropping his stare, Gibbs smiled broadly over at her.

Rubbing her fingertips lightly with her thumbs, Abby sighed deeply and made sure she had Gibbs' full attention before signing her gratitude with a simple thank-you. He returned the gesture by simply signing 'you're welcome' back to her, something Jenny no doubt would have been able to understand if she hadn't been caught up in trying to block out the painful feeling returning to her abdomen…

* * *

Agents DiNozzo, McGee and David all returned to the bullpen just before lunchtime that day after solving a relatively simple case. Actually, it had been too easy… A Navy Officer, Natasha Fernandez, had been found shot in the street in front of a large number of eyewitnesses. The murder weapon had been found perhaps twenty-foot away, and so too had the killer. Case closed, but it didn't really help the agents really feel right about it…

As the three reached the middle of the bullpen, they all turned to see their boss heading down the stairs and about to pass Tony's desk. It wasn't hard to know where he'd come from.

"Good work on the case." he congratulated.

Tony was the first to frown, looking briefly between McGee and Ziva. How on earth had Gibbs even known about it?

"You… you mean that, Boss?" he had to confirm, sure he must have somehow heard wrong.

Gibbs, who had stopped a small distance from the trio, nodded softly and began to slowly edge closer to them.

"Yeah." he smiled, "Case closed, killer caught, not too much paperwork… just how I like it."

Frowning, Tony was waiting for the catch. There was always a catch when it came to Gibbs.

"Oh…" Gibbs realised as he came to a stop right in front of the three of them, quickly reaching around and slapping the back of Ziva's head.

"Ow!" she cried, "What was that for?!"

"Don't use my phone again." he ordered, softly but enough to show her he meant it. _How on earth did he even know about that?_

Moving on and proceeding to copy the same movement on the back of McGee's head, Gibbs looked sternly into his eyes.

"And you, don't _ever _go into my draws again." he told him, knowing by the way the young agent was frowning that he didn't understand, "I don't care whether or not you want the van keys, you _don't_ do it."

"Yes, Boss." McGee understood.

Grinning away, pretty confident he hadn't done anything to warrant a famous head slap from Gibbs, Tony looked between his two fellow agents.

"Nice going, Mc…" Tony was cut short by what appeared to him to be a much harsher slap from his boss, catching him nicely at the back of the head. Honestly, you'd think his body would be immune to them now after receiving so many over the years.

Freezing slightly before bending his neck to the side and scratching just behind his ear, Tony didn't bother to look around at his boss. He didn't fail to notice the growing smirks off his two colleagues either.

"And… what was that for, Boss?" he asked lazily.

"I dunno, DiNozzo." Gibbs answered in an amused fashion, "But you're bound to do somethin' soon. I'm just thinkin' ahead."

"Thanks…" he trailed off, rubbing the back of his head as he went around his desk and sat down, something the four of them did near enough at the same time.

Only seconds had passed when Gibbs' phone began to sound, making Ziva smile to herself before she looked over at Gibbs. His solemn expression melted and he laughed silently with her for a second before grabbing the phone from its holster.

"Gibbs." he answered, his voice making the whole team looked towards him.

Curious they were and more curious they grew when they saw his soft features morph into a concerned and yet confused frown.

"How… how did you get this number?" he asked softly, "Okay… its okay. I'll be there as soon as I can…"

Putting the phone down, the older man on the team seemed to stand up, grab his keys and begin to head to the elevator in the same second.

"Boss?" Tony queried, unsure how to read his boss' behaviour.

Gibbs shrugged his shoulders, continuing to head to the already open elevator.

"Turns out your case isn't as simple as you all thought…"

* * *

Sat on the edge of Tony's desk, watching Gibbs entertain the little five-year old girl on his lap, Ziva sighed deeply.

The little girl, Rubie Fernandez, had been walking with her mother that morning when she had been shot. She had seen her mother's murder and ran, just like any scared little girl would do in a situation like that.

"How did we miss her, Tony?" Ziva had to ask, her eyes still glued to the child just across the room from her.

"I really don't know…" Tony sighed, "Seems Gibbs' earlier head-slap was… _prophetic._"

Laughing slightly, Ziva found herself nodding in agreement. She was just amazed how a child of such a young age had managed to keep calm enough to do as she was taught in a crisis, especially the one she had been through. After running from her mother's side after the shot had been fired, the little girl had rung NCIS, just as her mother had told her to do in an emergency.

The entire situation was making both Ziva and Tony kick themselves. How could they have missed her? How could all of the eyewitnesses at the crime scene have missed the fact that Natasha Fernandez had had a child with her when she was killed?

"Really, Tony… _how_ did we miss her?" Ziva had to repeat, her voice almost as stressed as she felt.

Sighing as deeply as the ex-Mossad Officer had, Tony shook his head, he too looking over at the little girl. With jet black hair and fair skin, she did look almost like a clone of her dead mother on a slab downstairs.

"We had no reason to know she was there…" he tried to reason, something he couldn't really do. There was no way to excuse missing a child at a crime scene, was there?

While Tony and Ziva continued to mentally kick themselves, Gibbs had begun to put together what he could from Rubie's answers to his questions. Obviously he hadn't asked her directly; with children he knew you had to be much more tactful.

"When will Mommy get here?" the little girl asked after a while, making Gibbs' heart drop a little. Of course, she still didn't understand what was going on…

Leaning down a little, making the little girl turn her head to look up at him, Gibbs sighed.

"Rubie…" he trailed off for a moment, "Mommy… Mommy can't come back."

"I promise I won't ever run away from her again…" she swore to him, "I know she'll be angry that I did…"

Smiling softly, Gibbs shook his head. He had had to inform relatives many times that loved ones weren't coming back, but none physically hurt him as much as that one was.

"Right…" he began softly, holding her as he stood up.

Placing her back down on his chair and crouching down in front of her, Gibbs began to debate the best way to explain to her exactly what was going on. She was just too young to properly understand what had happened to her mother, despite actually being there when she was murdered.

"You, you know Mommy was in the Navy?" he tried, getting an eager nod from the little girl in response, "She was a hero for many people…"

"A superhero?" Rubie asked brightly.

Gibbs laughed softly, nodding in response. "Yeah, a superhero." he agreed, "Well, now she's had to go and be a superhero in the sky… and even though you'll not be able to see her anymore, she'll be watching out for you, fighting away all the nasty monsters."

The little girl began to nod slowly, her fragile brow beginning to crease.

"Why couldn't she stay and do that?" she asked.

Gibbs sighed. "Because all the angels in the sky needed a superhero to protect them." he explained, "And only your Mommy was good enough."

Rubie began to tear up before him, her head shaking a little.

"But, I don't want her to be a superhero in the sky…" she confessed to him, "I want her to come back."

Gripping her hand softly to try and comfort her, Gibbs nodded a little.

"I know you do." he understood quietly, "But she can't, Rubie… I'm really sorry, sweetheart."

Watching the little girl begin to sob, all the team felt their heavy hearts go out to her. Gibbs was certainly no exception. He hoped to God his little baby would never go through pain like that over either him or Jenny. He knew that could be a risk that came with the job but as he saw Rubie's little world crumbling before him, it was making him more determined than ever not to let that happen.

* * *

Collateral damage which had come with a costly price was how that case had turned out. The killer – a hired hit man – had got it wrong, _very wrong_. Natasha Fernandez hadn't been the designated target, her deceased husband, Enrique Fernandez, was. The team were neither keen nor eager to understand to hit man's order; all they wanted was what was best for the little girl in their temporary custody.

Unfortunately, Rubie had absolutely no living relatives that the team could find, not even a distant cousin, which meant that she was going to have to go into care. However, the thing which hurt Gibbs the most over it all was that she was just too young… in a few years, her mother would be nothing more than a distant memory, a memory lost over time. The poor girl would never know of her parents… perhaps learning he was to become a parent soon was making his paternal side go into overdrive.

With Rubie gone, all the team watched with a sense of pride as a Mr G. Stevenson, the hired hit man, was escorted towards the front elevator by Agent McGee, tightly handcuffed and near enough dragged. Gibbs felt anger towards the individual in a way he knew he shouldn't, and seeing him only intensified it. He had let Rubie's grief get to him, _unprofessional… _however, when he thought about it, the man was still a killer. He had still killed Natasha Fernandez, despite the fact she hadn't been his intended victim.

From the catwalk above the bullpen, Jenny sighed deeply the moment Stevenson was inside the elevator. She wanted to feel proud; she wanted to be proud her organisation had caught the criminal responsible for the Navy Officer's murder; however, the nagging pain on the right-hand side of her tender abdomen just wasn't allowing it. The pain she was also beginning to feel in her shoulders wasn't helping either.

Already leaning on the bar, Jenny moaned a little loudly and had to bend forward against them, desperately hoping to ease the feeling. She pain was something she had been experiencing nearly all week, always in the same region, but _never _before had it felt so bad. It was almost as if she was being torn apart, like her insides were being ripped apart like paper.

Actually suppressing a sob, the Director began to feel incredibly sick as the pain began to intensify, and standing how she was certainly wasn't helping in the way she hoped it would.

"Director?" she could barely hear someone behind her asking, "Are you okay…?"

The longer she stood there, the worse she felt. However, she couldn't move. She was much too sore to do that. Not only was she pretty sure she was now silently crying due to the torturous feeling ripping through her stomach, the strong feeling of nausea was increasing and her clothing was beginning to stick to her suddenly sweaty skin.

Through the confusion of everything that was happening, Jenny managed to string a few thoughts together, each one of them about her baby. She wasn't panicking just yet but part of her was sure she was loosing it; although, she didn't believe that it would account for _all_ the pain she was in… it was far too strong for that.

Feeling the heat build-up and nausea rush to her head, Jenny wasn't really too sure what to do, if she could even move herself that was. Any movement on her behalf was something she was sure wasn't going to work, not with how she felt. That was the point where she subconsciously began to panic…

Watching the elevator doors close on Stevenson didn't bring the satisfaction Gibbs had been hoping for. To be honest, all he wanted now was to go home, get that day over with. Perhaps an early night and snuggle with his wife was what he needed. Whatever it was, he just wanted his family close.

Right on cue with his thoughts, he heard someone mention his wife, albeit with her title. However, the way in which they had said her name wasn't normal…

Turning around and looking up to the catwalk, his eyes immediately widened when he caught sight of the woman in question, hunched over, pale and most certainly in tears… _God, she looked awful!_

"Jenny?" he ended up saying, much louder than his brain had intended.

The concern in his voice was near enough noticed by everyone who all turned to look in the direction Gibbs was now heading.

Just as Gibbs began to bounce up the stairs, his heart beginning to pound a little quicker, he felt his breathing hitch momentarily as one moment Jenny was stood up and the next she was hitting in the ground with a tremendous force.

"Jenny!" he cried, near enough flying up the last few steps and landing on his knees when he reached her side.

Somehow, DiNozzo had managed to be right behind Gibbs and ended up on the other side of the Director's limp body less than a second later.

Checking her airways, breathing and then pulse, Gibbs felt himself release a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding the moment he found them all to be fine.

"Somebody call an ambulance, now!" he demanded, immediately making Ziva and McGee reach for the closest phone to them, Ziva not caring that it was actually the one off Gibbs' desk she ended up using to ring the emergency services.

"Jen, Jen, c'mon…" he muttered, doing his best to check her eyes for a sign of head trauma. The good thing about being an NCIS Agent for so long meant he knew how to keep calmer than most in a crisis.

"Director, can you hear me?" DiNozzo asked, ignoring all the others rubbernecking around them. It actually amazed him just how few seemed to be doing something productive as they were too curious to see what was going on.

Both of the male agents felt a short-lived sense of relief when the Director began to regain consciousness. However, the clearly painful grunts from the woman in question showed them that something seriously wasn't right with her.

"Jenny…?" Gibbs whispered loudly, smiling incredibly weakly as she rolled her head to face him, his hand tightly gripping onto hers.

"J… Jethro…" she managed to breathe out, soon returning to near-enough sobbing, "The…"

Seeing her struggling, Gibbs began to gently hush her.

"Its okay, Jen." he promised, not letting his fear catch up to him, "The EMT's are on their way. You'll be alright…"

"The baby…" she managed to mutter, making DiNozzo's eyes widen ridiculously quickly.

Once again shushing her and doing his best to keep her from panicking, Gibbs didn't notice DiNozzo look towards him. Then again, he didn't do it for long as he too was trying to his best to care for the Director until the emergency services arrived.

Feeling her eyes begin to cloud with darkness again, Jenny's breathing began to deepen. She wasn't really too sure whether the pain was even hurting her anymore.

"_I love you, Jen."_

That was the last thing she heard before the darkness took over…

* * *

As first, nothing but white noise seemed to register. Long, dark moments passed but slowly, more and more seemed to come into focus: the continuous, steady beat from a machine nearby, the softer-than-the-ground surface beneath, shallow breathing of another person to the side…

Moaning incredibly softly and trying to fight against her heavy eyelids, Jenny somehow managed to regain consciousness and realise what was going on. The room she had woken in was clearly in a hospital, light, clean and sterile. That also explained to noise: the heart monitor, the surface she was lying on: the supposedly comfy hospital bed and the shallow breathing to the side: her husband.

Her eyes flickered open and closed a couple of times, that small movement enough to still capture Gibbs' attention.

"Oh, Jenny…" he whispered in a rather relieved tone, almost immediately bringing his hand up to cup the top of her head, "How ya doin'?"

Moaning a little louder that time, Jenny closed her eyes briefly as she rolled her head in his direction and debated his question… to be honest, she wasn't sure. She wasn't really in pain; she guessed the line in her hand which was pumping her full of painkillers was to be thanked for that. However, there was certainly an ache from her abdomen, probably the proportion of pain the drugs just weren't suppressing enough.

"I… don't know… I'm alright, I guess." she confessed slowly, finally opening her eyes to see her husband's face, a face with red eyes and damp cheeks… he was crying, either that or he had been, "What… what happened?"

Sighing deeply, Gibbs lightly perched himself on the side of her bed, her tired eyes not leaving him for a moment.

"You, um… you collapsed on the catwalk…" he began slowly, "Your right fallopian tube ruptured, Jen. The doctors had to operate… you almost died."

Feeling a sharp sting at the back of her throat, Jenny slowly began to nod up at him, knowing her eyes were close to releasing fresh tears. She knew what that meant…

"I've… I've lost the baby…?" she managed to ask, her breathing increasing as she tried futilely to keep calm.

Running his thumb along her forehead, Gibbs sighed deeply.

"You lost _one_ of them…" he explained softly.

Jenny felt her eyes widen as she looked up at him, his eyes full of a large mix of emotions that she was slowly beginning to understand.

"One…?" she had to repeat.

Gibbs nodded in a bittersweet manner. "We we're havin' twins, Jen…" he broke lightly.

Feeling heart drop for the baby she'd lost, Jenny felt her emotions counter the pain. Saying it was an odd feeling was a definite understatement.

"And… and the other… the other baby's okay…?" she managed to ask.

Nodding adamantly, Gibbs smiled softly down at her.

"Yeah." he promised, "Yeah, its fine… I swear."

Sighing shakily, Jenny wasn't really sure how she should feel… upset that she'd lost a baby, relieved one was still alive? Honestly, she didn't know.

"Jen, everything's gonna be okay now…" he assured her, leaning down to kiss her forehead, "Just… try and get some rest."

As he pulled away, Jenny sighed deeply.

"Where you going…?" she asked softly, the tiredness quickly creeping back over her.

"Just for coffee." he answered, "Two minutes and I'll be back. I promise ya."

Nodding weakly, Jenny let her heavy eyes close.

"You better be…" she smiled softly, allowing him to quietly slip out the door.

As it was rather late and the corridor wasn't very busy at all, Gibbs didn't bother to close the door fully, something Jenny used to her advantage when she heard him stop outside just enough to be out of her view.

"How's she doing?" she heard an elderly man ask her husband, someone she quickly recognised as Ducky.

"She's, um…" she heard Gibbs briefly pause, "She's alright… tired, I guess."

"Well, she's just had major emergency surgery." Ducky pointed out to her husband, "I'm not surprised."

The silence which soon fell upon the two men just outside her room did make the Director frown a little, especially as the pair of them didn't move… it was almost as if there was a problem of some sort.

"Jethro, did you tell her?" she heard Ducky finally ask, breaking through the silence that had fallen over the pair.

Immediately, Jenny's eyes shot open and she looked towards the door, her ears on alert as to listen out for his response. Something about Ducky's tone was making her grow incredibly nervous…

Lying there, Jenny soon heard her husband's unique sigh flood the silent corridor.

"I, um… I told her about the baby, _the babies,_ about losin' the one." he explained softly.

"But not about Abby?" she heard Ducky question tiredly.

"Um, no…" Gibbs trailed off, pausing for a moment, "I, um… I didn't quite have the heart…"


	8. Not the best news

Chapter 8: "Not the best news…"

His already heavy heart dropped further, both for the man stood before him and the woman in the hospital room they were stood outside of. The darkened corridor where they found themselves probably mirrored how they both felt inside, something he could understand Gibbs not wanting the Director to share so soon after her surgery.

"Jethro…" he barely spoke, his voice in a whisper, "You need to tell her."

Rubbing his lightly throbbing temple, Gibbs slowly shook his head.

"No, Duck…" he futilely tried to object, "Not tonight."

"Jethro…" Ducky tried to reason, "She'd want to know… She'd want _you_ to be the one to tell her. She wouldn't want to find out from anyone else…"

"I know that." Gibbs understood, "But I can tell her tomorrow, Ducky… Let me give her tonight; let me let her have tonight… _please._"

Ducky nodded slowly, completely understanding his old friend's reasons.

Yawning and doing his best to suppress the noise escaping his lips, Gibbs sighed deeply, something Ducky smiled incredibly weakly at.

"You should go and get some rest too, Jethro." Ducky recommended quietly.

"No, Duck…" Gibbs shook his head slowly, deep down knowing it would be best, "No, I-I don't want to…"

"Jethro…" Ducky tried to reason with him for the second time that evening, something he expected he would be doing a lot with him over the following few hours.

Adamant, Gibbs shook his head before lifting it to look back towards the doctor. His expression was carved into his aged face, something which added further onto the pain he was already feeling.

"I don't want to, Duck…" he repeated, his voice much quieter in fear of it breaking.

Ducky softly sighed, nodding uncertainly at his friend who was no longer looking at him. Instead, he was holding his forehead, almost certainly internally battling with a mix of fresh, painful emotions all bubbling away within him.

It was a rare sight, even for Ducky, to see Gibbs so emotional, _so broken._ If he was honest, he didn't think he had _ever_ seen him so bad… The defence barriers he kept up while around the others were certainly breaking down. Just like the Director, Gibbs could be stubborn, especially when it came to his feelings, and Ducky knew that. That was why to it was a rarity to see him how he was at that moment, and a privilege. At least he felt comfortable enough to be open around him.

"Jethro…" Ducky whispered, his heart beginning to break at the sight.

Shaking his head, Gibbs let out a partially broken sob.

"I could have lost her today, Duck…" he tried to keep himself together, "I could have lost them all, all the ones who are important to me… I've, I've already lost one of them… I-I couldn't bear it if I'd lost Jenny too…"

Feeling his heart tighten, Ducky wasn't really sure what he could do other than let Gibbs vent out what he could. He knew he was hurting, that much was obvious, and it looked as though it was all catching up to him.

"AND IT'S NOT FAIR!" he quietly screamed, his voice failing.

Gibbs openly then began to sob, any hopes of remaining in control of his emotions lost in a split second.

Ducky's heart immediately went out to him, soon finding himself holding the grief-stricken man as he cried, albeit softly but enough to pull on his heartstrings.

As the ward corridor was deadly quiet, it wasn't long before one of the night nurses appeared around the dimly lit corner, concern plastered over her soft features.

"Sir?" she asked lightly, making Ducky smile weakly in response and shake his head.

"_It's okay…_" the older doctor mouthed kindly to the young woman.

"Are you sure, sir?" the nurse had to double-check.

Receiving another promising nod from Ducky, the nurse silently sighed before disappearing back into the darkness of the ward, leaving the two alone in the quiet corridor.

* * *

Gibbs was pretty sure he had reached the point where he had gone beyond tired and was no longer in danger of falling asleep. He was purely running off coffee now, and he actually now understood the difference between just drinking the stuff like he usually did and physically needing the caffeine in order to stay awake.

Against his wishes but understanding his responsibilities of being Team Leader, Gibbs parked up in the car park of NCIS Headquarters directly on eight o'clock that morning. The sun bounced off nearly everything in sight: the other cars, the street lights, the building's windows, but it made no difference to his mood. He doubted he could even smile with how he was feeling…

Gibbs did his best to be civil with all the people he met en route to the squad room, many taking a moment to ask how the Director was. He also had to force himself to ignore all the comments around him about how he looked and that he shouldn't have been in work. That was most certainly true, and it wasn't as though he had any intention of staying for long, but people just had to gossip.

It was in the elevator that he finished that last drop of whatever number coffee it was that he was on. The thought actually occurred to him to dare to have a cup from down the hall but the thought was terrifying enough to put him off there and then. Even if he was desperate and that was the last coffee left in the world, he wouldn't dare poison his system by ingesting that _stuff._

Chucking the cup into the nearest bin – at least he hoped it was a bin – as soon as the elevator doors opened, Gibbs quickly rolled back his aching shoulders as he headed over to the bullpen.

Noticeably straightening his back, DiNozzo somehow smiled the moment he caught sight of Gibbs heading his way.

"Boss…" he sighed, pushing himself up onto his feet with his desk's assistance.

Coming to a stop in front of the younger agent's desk, Gibbs turned to glance at Ziva, his insides physically hurting at the sight of her doing her best to stop her tears.

"How the two of you doin'?" he asked quietly, earning an incoherent shrug of the shoulders from the ex-Mossad agent.

"I… I have been better, I suppose…" Ziva barely spoke, soon treasuring the soft reassuring stroke on the cheek she received from the grey-haired man.

"Ziva…" Gibbs sighed, lightly rubbing her cheekbone with his calloused thumb, "Everything'll be okay…"

Nodding slowly against his palm, Ziva somehow managed to suppress a bout of further tears.

"I'm sorry…" she trailed off, "It's just… it was not the best news to wake up to this morning…"

Gibbs nodded slowly. "I know." he agreed almost silently, slowly pulling his hand away.

Watching his partner doing her best not to completely break down in front of their boss was exceptionally hard for Tony, especially as he too felt as distraught as she looked. However, he knew he needed to stay strong, not only for her sake but for Gibbs too. After all, he'd just lost a baby, and almost his wife…

The loud ring from the phone on Tony's desk was a great distraction for the male agent, something he took no time in answering.

"Agent DiNozzo." he greeted down the phone, "No… no, she's not here… No, we haven't seen her… Yes, I understand. We'll keep a look-out. Thank you."

By the time he placed the phone back in its holster, an intrigued Ziva was looking across at him and it wasn't long after that Gibbs was too.

"Who was that?" Ziva asked slowly, her voice starting to lose its broken sound.

Tony sighed, briefly looking down at the phone.

"The little girl from yesterday… she's missing." he began slowly, "The woman from social services thinks she's run away… She was wondering if she was here."

Gibbs felt his mouth dry out as DiNozzo spoke. "Ru… Rubie?" he had to ask, "When did they see her last?"

DiNozzo shook his head. "I assume last night." he confessed, "All they said was that they couldn't find this morning… she's not at the home they took her to."

Standing silently without warning, Gibbs immediately began to head elevator, making both the two agents in the bullpen frown.

"Boss?" called Tony, not moving but his eyes following the older man intensely.

"Hold down the fort, DiNozzo." Gibbs ordered, taking no time to step into the elevator.

"But… where are you going?" DiNozzo asked, receiving no answer, "Boss…?"

* * *

Gibbs reached the mouth of the typically busy street and effortlessly slipped into the crowd, his intended destination the only place his sleep-deprived brain could physically make him head towards. Unable to dodge a group of keen female joggers heading towards him, the array of colours actually hurting his tired eyes, Gibbs pushed through the centre of them, probably a little more forcefully then he intended. He soon found himself ignoring the mixture of comments he found flying in his direction, some simply apologies and some insults mostly referring to his stupidity and age.

Coming to a stop upon seeing a tiny figure on a flaking black painted bench up ahead, Gibbs sighed to himself. His gut had been right… she'd gone back to the place where she'd last seen her mother alive.

Slowly heading over, watching the little girl carelessly kick her legs which were too short to reach the ground as she looked up at the grey sky, Gibbs couldn't help but notice the similarities the child had, not only to her mother, but also another black-haired woman who was strongly on his mind.

"You're gonna catch a cold if you stay here too long…" he voiced gently, sitting down next to her and joining her in looking towards the cloud-filled sky.

A little startled by the voice, Rubie swiftly turned her head, relaxing quickly upon seeing who had crept up and sat down next to her.

"Gibbs." she recalled softly, a small smile tugging on her lips.

Turning his head slowly, he looked away from the sky above and down at the fair-skinned five-year old.

"You okay?" he asked with a smile, something which she slowly nodded at in response.

Looking back towards the sky above, something she also did, Gibbs continued to smile softly.

"Whatcha doin'?" he questioned, "What ya lookin' for?"

Sighing as deeply as her little lungs let her, Rubie shook her head.

"Mommy…" she trailed off, "You said she was a superhero… I was waiting to see her fly past."

Nodding sadly to himself, Gibbs reached for her hand, something the little girl took as a cue to move closer to the older man.

"I… I want her to take me with her…" the little girl confessed, her voice beginning to break as she spoke, "I… I don't wanna stay at that house."

"Rubie…" Gibbs trailed off in a whisper, looking down at the little girl on the bench to his left.

In the next few moments when she turned to face him, he felt his brow drop the moment he saw the red mark along her left cheek. It certainly hadn't been there the day before.

Gently nudging her chin with his thumb, Gibbs forced a gulp of dry air down his throat, his tired mind automatically assuming the worst.

"Rubie, what happened?" he asked her.

Within nothing longer than a second, the little girl's head dropped; something he soon recognised as guilt. He guessed that being a father had taught him how to read children, and due to that, he knew that her _guilt_ was not down to her own accord.

"Tell me…" he pressed lightly.

Shaking her head, Rubie tensed awfully against his side.

"I… I didn't do as I was told…" she admitted in a broken sob, "I kept crying and keeping all the other children awake… the lady didn't like it."

His sleep-deprived self seemed to be given a sharp energy boost the moment he understood exactly what that meant.

"Please…" the little girl begged, lifting her head to look up at him, "Please don't make me go back there…"

Doing his best to keep calm, Gibbs felt his teeth sink into his inner lip.

"Did… did she hit you, Rubie?" he gently asked, his tired mind unable to find a way to ask other than directly.

Visibly breaking, Rubie let her head fall. "I didn't mean it… I didn't mean to make her angry…" she sobbed, "Please Gibbs; I don't wanna go back…"

Swiftly leaning down to kiss the top of her head, his speed preventing her from seeing the anger take over his facial features, Gibbs shook his head adamantly.

"You won't…" he swore, "I promise you, Rubie. You won't ever go back there."

Rubie gulped. "But…" she began.

"I mean it." he promised, interrupting the little girl's sentence, "I'll sort something out for you."

Pulling away to look up at him, Rubie gulped.

"But what about tonight?" she asked quietly, "Where do I go?"

"You can stay with me." he explained lightly.

Rubie tried her best to smile but she was still battling against her tears too much for that to happen.

"You… you mean that?" she had a desperate need to confirm.

Nodding, Gibbs smiled softly down at her. "Yeah." he answered, "I won't let anyone hurt you, Rubie…"

* * *

Hand-in-hand with the now calmer little girl, Gibbs headed down the vaguely familiar corridor of the ward his wife's room was on. He didn't actually need any signs or assistance from any staff on duty to find it though, the old doctor sat outside in one of the hard plastic chairs was all the help he needed.

Upon spotting his approach, Ducky released a relieved breath, soon pushing himself up to his feet.

"I have _never _been so glad to see you, Jethro." Ducky confessed.

Gibbs's brow immediately fell. "Problem?" he queried, slowly feeling his heart beat faster.

"You told her _two minutes…_" Ducky pointed out, glancing down at his watch, "Almost eight hours later, here you are…"

"Oh…" Gibbs realised, quickly looking down at the child at his side, "Rubie, you remember Ducky from yesterday? He's just gonna look after you while I go in here."

Looking briefly at the door before back up at Gibbs, Rubie sighed.

"Can't… can't I come with you?" she asked timidly.

Smiling softly, Gibbs crouched down to her level.

"Ducky's a nice man. He won't hurt you…" he promised, "I just need to go and see my wife… the lady with red hair who you met yesterday, remember her?"

Rubie nodded softly.

"I just need to go and see if she's okay." Gibbs told her.

"What happened to her?" Rubie asked, again timidly, "She was fine yesterday."

Gibbs sighed. "She had a big operation last night." he explained as best he could, "So, can you wait with Ducky while I go and see her? He knows some brilliant stories…"

Rubie nodded and smiled softly. "You will come back for me, won't you?" she questioned.

"I promise." he swore, clambering back up onto his feet before looking towards his friend and whispering, "Thanks, Duck…"

Quickly preparing himself for what he knew he was about to receive, Gibbs sighed deeply. _Here goes nothing…_

Pulling on the door handle and pushing the door, Gibbs entered the quiet room, his presence soon making the woman inside lift her heavy eyelids.

"Wh… Where, the hell, have you been?!" she breathed loudly, "How long does it take you to get bloody coffee?!"

"Jen…" he tried to answer.

"Two minutes, Jethro!" she cried, her throat beginning to strain, "You said _two minutes!_"

Soon reaching the side of her bed, Gibbs smiled softly down at her.

"Jenny, I'm sorry…" he explained softly, watching her anger towards him melt away, "I had to pop into work."

As she was unable to smile, despite the fact her body had relaxed slightly, Gibbs' concern for her grew, especially as her face began to crease. Clearly it wasn't her frustration at him for being so long which was affecting her.

"Jen, what's the matter?" he asked softly, lightly gripping one of her hands.

"What's wrong with Abby?" she questioned suddenly, her voice desperate.

Smiling softly, Gibbs shook his head. "She's fine, Jen…" he answered.

"No… no, I heard you. I heard you talking to Ducky." she pointed out, "You said you hadn't _got the heart _to tell me something… What was it, Jethro? What's happened to her?"

Seeing her begin to panic before his eyes, Gibbs shook his head and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Jen, she's fine." he repeated, "I promise." _He seemed to have done that a lot that day…_

Jenny noticeably bit into her delicate bottom lip. "Don't lie to me, Jethro…" she warned.

Sighing deeply, Gibbs continued to shake his head. She'd got the wrong end of the stick and he definitely didn't want her to make herself ill over it, especially not while she was recovering from major surgery.

"I'm not, Jen." he insisted, "I swear."

Sighing sharply, Jenny looked deep into his eyes, still not comforted in any way by his words.

"You're not filling me with any confidence here…" she confessed, her voice breaking with every syllable, "What's happened? Tell me."

Debating his words, Gibbs perched himself on the edge of Jenny's bed, only concerning her further. He didn't want to upset her, not while she was so weak both physically and mentally, but he didn't know really how to sugar-coat the truth…

"Kyle… didn't show up." he explained slowly.

Jenny breathed out shakily, an uncertain frown growing on her face.

"W… what?" she managed to ask.

"He didn't turn up for his surgery, Jen." Gibbs told her, feeling her grip on his hand tighten.

"But Abby… her operation…" she began to point out, slowly losing the volume of her voice.

Gibbs once again shook his head. "Can't happen…" he quietly trailed off, his already fragile heart breaking the moment he saw his wife begin to lose control of her emotions.

Shaking her head as her body began to shake slightly due to her growing sobs; Jenny began to breathe sharper, each noise like a knife in Gibbs' stomach.

"No… no…" she began to openly cry.

Doing his best to comfort her, leaning his lips on her forehead, Gibbs sighed softly.

"It'll be alright, Jen…" he promised, whispering against her skin.

Jenny roughly shook her head. "How can it be…?" she wept, her voice barely managing to remain unbroken for more than a second, "This… this was her chance, Jethro… she's, she's too young to die…"

"Hey…" Gibbs both warned and soothed, trailing his thumb along her wet cheeks, gathering up her tears in the process, "This is just… a bump in the road… she's still got a lot of fight left in her… if not, she'll be answerin' to me."

"This… this isn't something you can correct with a slap around the head, Jethro…" Jenny pointed out, doing her best to pull herself together and failing miserably.

Gibbs sighed deeply, briefly kissing his wife's heated forehead. "I'll do more than slap him 'round the back of the head if I get my hands on him…"

* * *

Sat watching her chest continuously rise and fall had kept him busy for the majority of the day, despite the fact his eyes were occasionally rolling back into his head when bouts of exhaustion surfaced. Although he could clearly see she was alive, the monitor on her left proving more than enough evidence, Tim still felt a horrible knot form in his stomach each time his mind convinced him she was no longer breathing. He knew for a fact it was because he was ridiculously tired but it still didn't ease the panic. Abby meant a great lot to him; he wasn't prepared to lose her.

It wasn't fair; that was all he understood at that moment in time. He couldn't deny he was angry but mostly, he was upset, upset on her behalf more than his own. All the medication flooding unmercifully through her system had taken a massive toll on her over the past week, and it looked as though it was all for nothing…

McGee wasn't sure how long he had allowed his eyes to close. He knew it hadn't been too long since he had still heard everything going on around him, but that didn't stop him jumping slightly when he felt someone come to a stop behind him and tap his chair.

Looking around swiftly, Tim had to blink several times but he soon relaxed the moment he saw Dr. Mallard looking down at him.

"Ducky…" he acknowledged weakly, his eyes soon falling down to a familiar girl at the old man's side, "I… I know you, don't I…?"

It took a few moments for Tim to scavenge through his jumbled up memories before he finally recalled who she was.

Frowning softly, Tim glanced up towards Ducky. "Ducky, why've you got the kid from yesterday's case?" the tired, and pretty confused, agent asked, roughly rubbing his right eye with the bottom of his palm.

"I'm not _the kid._" Rubie stated, a little frown creasing her brow, "My name's Rubie…"

McGee smiled softly, understanding just how rude he must have appeared. Tired or not, that was no excuse for speaking about someone, especially in front of them and definitely not a child.

"I… I'm sorry, Rubie. That was wrong of me." he apologised, quickly stifling a yawn, "Are you okay?"

Rubie just nodded, looking briefly up at Ducky who smiled kindly down at her. She may have only spent about half an hour with the man but she certainly did feel safe around him. Gibbs had been right…

Taking the small silence which had surfaced as an indication that it was now acceptable to change the conversation, Ducky turned his head to look at Tim.

"How is she, Timothy?" he asked in a soft whisper.

McGee sighed and turned his head to look back through the glass at the sleeping woman. Her messy, black locks were actually out of their usual hair bands which was a rarity in itself and her tired face was most certainly make-up free, not surprisingly really…

"She's asleep…" he trailed off, laughing slightly as all he was doing was stating the obvious, "I'm surprised to be honest…"

"What makes you say that?" Ducky queried softly.

"I… I don't know Ducky…" he trailed off, "It's just… she had a phone call yesterday about an hour after the Nurse told us Kyle hadn't showed up for his operation."

Ducky nodded, silently eager to hear the rest. "And?" he enquired.

Sighing, McGee partly turned back to glance over at her.

"I don't know, Ducky…" he repeated, "She wouldn't say who it was… but she cried afterwards. I, I don't know whether it was because she was angry or upset, _but she cried… _I honestly didn't think she'd be able to get to sleep last night…"

Allowing the silence of the ward to return, both men just turned back to look over at their extremely ill friend. Neither really knew what to say nor do or even think. Perhaps that was why sleep was always recommended after a long day…

"How's the Director?" McGee suddenly asked, "Is she alright?"

Releasing a deep breath, Ducky nodded. "Yes, she's fine." he answered, "Gibbs is with her at the moment. That's why I'm looking after Rubie for him."

Turning his head back to the elderly doctor, McGee briefly glanced at the little girl sat on the chair on the other side of the corridor.

"Why's she here?" he asked in a quiet whisper, making sure he was quiet enough that she couldn't hear.

Ducky shook his head. "I don't know…" he confessed.

* * *

Outside of Abby's isolation room sat two men and a little girl, all who were fast asleep by the time Gibbs arrived later that afternoon. Meanwhile, inside the room, the young woman was lying on her stomach, her face buried into the pillow. Part of him was sure it must have been a difficult position to breathe in but a moment later it didn't matter as she moved in order to face him.

"Hey Abbs…" he greeted quietly as not to wake Ducky, McGee and little Rubie, "How ya doin'?"

Abby smiled softly. "Tired…" she admitted, "Feel like I'm 'bout to be sick… so pretty normal."

Smiling in a false manner, Gibbs nodded softly. He hated how the atrocious feelings she felt from her treatment were becoming an expected norm for her, especially as there was nothing he could do about it.

Unsure exactly what to say to her, Gibbs was rather glad of the interruption when Abby's doctor, Dr. Isafie, appeared at his side. Upon seeing him, Abby's eyes widened a little and she pushed herself up onto knees.

"Doctor…" she greeted, noticeably eager for something.

Sighing lightly, Dr. Isafie smiled softly at her behind the glass wall.

"Hello there Abby." he sighed, "How are you today?"

"Doctor…" Abby warned, her eagerness clear in her tone.

Sighing softly, the doctor nodded to himself. "I've spoken to Kyle." he began.

Scoffing, Gibbs noticeably rolled his eyes.

"What? Is he _sorry _for not showin' up yesterday?" he queried, his sarcasm obvious.

Feeling both her eyes widen and mouth drop, Abby shot a look of pure shock at him.

"Gibbs!" she cried, deeply hurt by his words and ultimately waking Ducky, McGee and Rubie instantly from their rather uncomfortable sleeps.

Gibbs involuntarily found himself frowning at her, his confusion both apparent and shared by the two men who had just woken up.

_Seriously, what did she expect? _Did she think he'd be okay with Kyle after missing his surgery the day before?

"Really, Abbs?" Gibbs had to question, "You expect me _not_ to be angry with the man when he didn't show up yesterday?"

Abby forced a breath out. "Gibbs, it's not like…" trailing off to a sudden stop, her face falling from a confused frown to just a soft shake of her head when she realised why he was being the way he was, "You… you don't know, do you?"

Looking briefly away, his eyes glancing over towards Ducky and McGee in the process, Gibbs' frown intensified.

"Know what?" he queried.

Quickly sharing a brief look with Dr. Isafie, Abby let out the largest breath of the day thus far.

"I… I'm sorry, I thought you knew… Kyle was in a car accident yesterday. That's why he didn't turn up." she explained, a gulp involuntarily following her sentence, "A car ran a red light; crashed into him…"

Immediately feeling a large knot in his stomach appear and tighten, Gibbs felt his anger towards the man morph into dread. In a split second, all the thoughts he had had about him seemed extremely unfair and unjustified… It turned out the man did have a damn good excuse for not turning up after all…

"Is… is he okay?" Gibbs found himself asking, a dreadful taste of guild flooding his dry mouth.

Sighing sharply, Abby moved her gaze to the doctor next to Gibbs.

"I hope I'm about to find out…" she confessed quietly, "Dr. Isafie?"

The pause between his cue and answer seemed to last for an eternity for the young woman but the smile which gradually grew on the doctor's lips made her heart flutter a little.

"He's fine, Abby." Isafie told her, making her share a joyful smile with her friends before looking back at the speaking doctor, "He… he was kept in overnight…"

Her smile dropped momentarily. "Why?" she interrupted automatically.

"Just to keep him under observation as he sustained a minor head injury," he explained, "But he is okay."

Breathing out a pure sigh of relief, Abby felt the worry which had been eating away at her mind all night dissolve in an instant. He was okay… that was all that mattered.

"Due to his head injury, we advised him not to proceed with his operation until at least tomorrow… but he insisted we get it done as soon as possible." Isafie continued.

Laughing softly, feeling tears begin to sting under her eyes, Abby shook her head.

"I can wait…" she promised.

"He can't…" her doctor smiled softly, "We're planning to do it later this evening if no emergencies come in, if not then tomorrow morning. That means your surgery will be either the day after tomorrow, or the day after that. I'm afraid that'll mean you'll be stuck in isolation until then."

Abby nodded happily. "I can live with that…" she almost beamed, something the three other men seemed to be mirroring, "Please, thank him for me when you see him."

Dr. Isafie nodded softly. "I will." he promised, acknowledging the lot of them before leaving.

The conversation with the doctor had been ridiculously brief but the bounce it had given to the young woman made Gibbs' heavy heart swell.

"Well, if that's not the best news I've heard all day, I don't know what is…" he commented, slowly rubbing his forehead, "I um, I'm gonna go and tell Jen…"

Looking up at a smiling Gibbs, Rubie slowly seemed to involuntary mirror his smile.

"Gibbs, can I come with you?" she asked innocently, her answer in the form of him holding his hand out to her.

"C'mon." he grinned, grabbing her hand softly, "You can help me tell Jenny how happy Abby looks."

Glancing briefly back at the young woman who Ducky had introduced her to earlier that day, Rubie laughed happily.

"She looks as happy as you." she commented as the pair began to walk down the corridor, "I like her, Gibbs."

"Me too." he confessed, loud enough for them all to hear.

Gibbs and Rubie disappeared from the sight of the others just seconds before Ducky pushed himself up onto his feet. Feeling a sense of joy flood through his body, Ducky smiled broadly at the young woman in the isolation room.

"I'm gonna go and ring Tony and Ziva." he told her softly, "I promised I'd let them know of any developments… I think this qualifies."

Within moments, Abby and McGee were left in each others company, something neither of them disliked for a second.

"I… I can't believe this is finally happening…" Abby voiced, her smile unable to drop despite the fact she did physically try, "I… I could beat this now, Tim… I really could."

Feeling himself close to tears but not for the usual reasons, Tim just sighed happily. It was nice to see Abby genuinely smiling again, not just putting on a brave face like she had been for such a long time.

Kissing his fingertips, Tim held his hand up to the glass, his smile soft enough to make her heart melt. Sighing contently, Abby returned the favour by blowing a kiss back. For the first time in a while, everything seemed to be going right. Perhaps she was going to beat the damned leukaemia once and for all…


	9. You're serious?

Chapter 9: "You're serious…?"

The local kindergarten was usually where Director Shepard found herself at 8 o'clock on a weekday morning. The only exception was when she had some sort of meeting scheduled; then it would be her husband finding himself at kindergarten. She was surprisingly used to being only steps away from an army of excited, energetic children, all eager for the day ahead, so not being there that morning was really disrupting her schedule. However, it couldn't be helped. Instead, she had just entered her office carrying – against the wishes of her husband and Ducky – a little girl with hair so black it actually blended into the loose blouse draped over her torso.

Gently massaging the little girl's sleepy head, the little girl with laboured breathing and a violent cold attacking her petite body, Jenny did her best to lower herself down closer to the sofa opposite her office door.

"Rubie…" she whispered softly, gently awakening the little girl who had barely had more than an hour's sleep the night before.

Protesting slightly as she awoke from her needed slumber, the grip she had around the back of Jenny's neck tightened.

"Rubie…" Jenny tried again softly, "Sweetheart, I need to put you down now. I… I can't carry you much longer…"

Relenting, the little girl allowed Jenny to place her onto the cold sofa, a chill shooting through her pyjamas and up her back. Moaning again, she brought her small hands to her heavy eyelids and violently rubbed them with the knuckles of her index fingers, quickly having to sniffle to clear her nose.

"I wanna go home…" Rubie near enough cried, both her cold and tiredness making it difficult for her to want to be anywhere but her bed.

Struggling down to her knees, her small yet defined bump hidden pretty well by her blouse making sure of that, Jenny nodded softly. Her lips graced a gently smile as she lay Rubie down on the sofa and wrapped her up in the scruffy navy-blue blanket the little girl had been tightly holding onto all the way up from the car.

"I know you do…" Jenny understood as she stroked the slightly greasy hair from out of the little girl's eyes, "But Gibbs and I have got work to do… you'll be okay in here with me, won't you?"

Rubie nodded her head tiredly as her eyelids shut. "I want my teddy…" she whispered.

The teddy in question was merely only on the floor in front of the pair of them, something Jenny took no time in reaching for. She then carefully tucked it under the little girl's arm and once it was in place, it took only seconds before Rubie fell asleep, something Jenny very glad about.

The poor girl hadn't managed to really sleep the night before which in-turn meant the entire household didn't get much sleep at all. That was probably why her husband was already on his third cup of coffee of the morning and she knew for a fact it wouldn't be his last.

Moving to actually sit on the floor rather than perch herself up on her knees, an action she was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to get up from anytime soon, Jenny gently began to stroke the side of Rubie's heated face with the backs of her lean fingers, the comforting gesture working its typical magic. It actually amazed her just how much her maternal instincts had grown over the past half a year, certainly a lot sooner than she had expected.

As the minutes passed, Jenny found herself soon beginning to think over the past few months, not just about the little baby growing inside her, but also about Rubie and how she had become such a large part of her life. If she really thought about it, it had all started with a simple conversation…

_Jenny hadn't really had the best of days. After all, she'd spent the majority of the morning worrying about Abby, part of her actually believing the young woman had died and her husband hadn't told her… That would teach her to listen in on her husband's conversations, even if it had been outside of her room in the deadly silence of the early hours._

_Her day certainly hadn't got any better when Gibbs informed her Abby's brother hadn't turned up for his operation either. With only a few simple words, any feelings of hope she had stored away were found and crushed by the brutal fact of reality. She honestly didn't believe it could have gotten any worse… however, upon hearing her husband and the little girl from the team's most recent case, Rubie Fernandez, tell her Abby was going to have her operation after all was just the moral boost she needed._

_A tired smile remained on her dry lips as she watched Ducky escort the little dark-haired girl out of the room after her husband's silent request to the older man. As soon as the pair disappeared, Rubie the unfortunate receiver of a classic Doctor Mallard story, Jenny managed to roll her head to the side in order to look at her equally tired husband._

_Meeting his eyes, Jenny watched them soften as a bearable yet torturing silence began to fall over them._

"_Why… why's she here, Jethro?" she managed to ask him slowly, knowing without being told he had something to do with it. It was written all over his lined face, "I thought she was taken into care?"_

_Sighing deeply, scraping the chair legs against the hard floor as he dragged it closer to the side of her bed, Gibbs softly shook his head._

"_I… I won't send her back there." Gibbs swore, "I don't care what you say, I won't do it."_

_Feeling a familiar beat begin to hammer against her inner skull, Jenny sighed, momentarily closing her eyes in the hopes to stop the oncoming headache in its tracks._

"_Jethro, you have to." she tried to point out._

"_I won't do it, Jenny." he stated adamantly, "She ran away because one of the so-called carers hit her… I won't send her back into that."_

_Lifting her head a little, the words shooting through her as much as the increasing pain in her head was, Jenny felt her brow crease a little._

"_Are… are you sure?" she had to ask, "Like 100% sure? You… you can't go in guns blazing if…"_

_The look she found herself receiving, the classic Gibbs 'all-knowing' look, made it pretty damn clear: he was sure. That was enough to stop her dead in her tracks._

_Nodding softly, her messy red locks dragging against the creased, white pillow beneath her head, Jenny sighed deeply._

"_Jethro, that's a job for child services…" she couldn't help but point out the obvious, "And… and the police."_

_Nodding adamantly, Gibbs didn't really need accompanying words to prove to her he knew._

"_I've already made some calls, an investigation's been opened." he smiled so softly that anyone but Jenny may have missed it, and the smile definitely had a small element of pride mixed into it, "But she's still not going back there."_

_Her lips rose slowly up the one side of her face. She should have known really, Gibbs never stood by and did nothing when children were involved._

_Reaching up to rub her left eye with her palm, Jenny sighed incredibly deeply._

"_Jethro, you can't… __**we **__can't keep her." she disclosed, letting her head drop back onto the pillow as she turned back to look over at her husband._

_Simply shrugging his shoulders, Gibbs' soft expression displayed no hint of changing anytime soon. He just kept looking directly towards his wife._

"_Why not?" he queried simply, the statement making Jenny's eyes widen considerably._

_Due to that simple question, there was no doubt in her mind that he was anything other than certain about what he was saying. However, a part of her still had to ask._

"_You're serious…?" she could only whisper._

"_Completely…" he paused for a second, "Why not, Jen?"_

_Scoffing in disbelief, her hand running back through her tangled hair until it hit the pillow, Jenny could only shake her head as she turned to look up at the ceiling for a moment._

"_Jethro, I'm pregnant…" she found herself reminding him, "How… how can we take Rubie in only seven months before we have a baby…?"_

_Gibbs didn't say anything, but by staying silent he actually said it all. Jenny could read him like an open book; she could see the emotion in his eyes… he was near enough begging for her approval, for her to agree, without saying a single word._

"_She…" Jenny began slowly, her heart actually hurting as she lay there, "She's really gotten to you, hasn't she?"_

_Lifting one of his shoulders a little, Gibbs briefly looked away. _"_I'd be lyin' if I said no." he confessed._

_Actually amazed by his open honestly, Jenny soon found herself struggling to keep her lips from breaking out into a smile._

"_How… how long have you been thinking about this?" she asked gently._

_Sighing, Gibbs slightly shrugged both shoulders that time._

"_From the moment I saw the mark on her cheek… perhaps a little bit earlier…" he admitted, "But… I won't look into it if you don't want me too…"_

_Seeing his head drop as the words left his mouth, Jenny knew she had a decision to make. It was __**her **__call…_

"_I… I never said that…" she pointed out, and that was all Gibbs needed to hear._

* * *

The sound of her heels clicking on the ground as she ran towards the security entrance is what first alerted the security guard – Henry – to her arrival. Bending his neck to get a better view of her as she came into sight, the bald-headed man just smiled as she got closer. With her hand rooting around at the bottom of her purse as she came to a stop, the young woman barely noticed him staring until she briefly looked up for a moment.

"Hey Henry…" she trailed off, the majority of her attention still with her hand rooting through the shiny black bag hanging off her other arm.

"Hey Abby." he greeted, the amusement he felt apparent by the smirk on his face, "Whatcha lost?"

Looking briefly back up towards him, she both raised her eyebrow and sighed for a moment before continuing her hunt.

"My ID card." she confessed, "I know it's in here somewhere… I saw it earlier while I was at the hospital." she let out a gasp as she swiftly looked back up towards him, "Perhaps I dropped it there… or in the car. I'm gonna have to and find it… and then explain to Gibbs and Director Shepard why I'm so late…"

Trying his best to keep himself smiling only and not progressing into a fit of laugher, Henry shrugged his shoulders.

"You're a strange one, Miss Sciuto_… _" he sighed, "I can always give you a visitor's pass, ya know?"

Abby's eyes immediately widened and she slowly shook her head, her hand once again resuming its search, albeit slower than before.

"But that would be wrong. I work here, I'm not visiting…" she whispered, soon leaning a little further in his direction and dropping the volume of her voice a little more, "Imagine the paperwork…"

Henry once again shrugged his shoulders. "At least you'd be able to get in." he pointed out, "Why were you at the hospital anyway?"

Slowing for a moment, Abby looked back at the security guard, a soft smile shaping her dark lips.

"Routine check-up. Five months clear, baby!"" she boomed happily, her eyes suddenly widening and her smile expanding, "And here's my ID card!"

Revealing the small rectangular card she had been searching for triumphantly, Abby soon swiped it through the card reader. The little green light flashed immediately afterwards which allowed her to enter.

"You're serious…? Five months already?" Henry had to ask, "Where's all that time gone?"

Nodding, Abby both smiled up at him and stuck her ID card into her purse that time, making sure that that time she knew exactly where it was.

"I know, right?" she agreed, "I mean, it'll be a long time 'til they can give me the all-clear but so far, so good!"

"Glad to hear it." Henry smiled, "Have a good afternoon."

Returning the polite favour, Abby wished him the same before she began to head off to her lab, the lab she had finally regained control of about two to three months beforehand. Returning back to work, just as Dr. Isafie had hoped, had been a major boost in her recovery. Finally being allowed to return to normal, and see her friends once again on a daily basis, had been just the medicine she had needed once her bone marrow transplant and the final steps of her treatment had been completed… it was actually hard to imagine all that had only been six months before.

Meanwhile, up on the top floor of the NCIS building, more specifically in the Director's office, Jenny had just finished what felt like a month's worth of paperwork in four hours. To say her mind was no longer absorbing words was a massive understatement…

She knew that being bombarded with paperwork all of a sudden was down to her husband as he was desperate for her to cut down her working hours. Although, she supposed that being eight months pregnant with his baby gave him reason. However, she couldn't just sit around doing nothing at home. Even if paperwork was on the agenda, at least being at NCIS meant she was only a minimum of one floor away from her friends.

Dropping the pen from her hand which she was pretty sure she'd be unable to move for an least an hour, Jenny leant back on her chair, doing her best to stretch out her aching back. Moaning softly, she then glanced over at the young dark-haired child lay rigid on the sofa to her right. Jenny knew that four hours worth of sleep was nowhere near enough, especially not for a sick little girl, but at least it was a start after the night she had had.

Glancing down at her watch, quickly aware it was lunchtime, Jenny carefully pushed herself up to her feet and she headed over to Rubie. Similarly to that morning, Jenny again lowered herself down to the floor and sat partially leaning against the sofa, that time holding the little girl's hand.

Hearing the office door unexpectedly open rather loudly behind her, Jenny involuntarily shot the visitor a rather cold glare as she turned her head.

"What are you…" were the only words that she heard before signing for the person to silence themselves in effect of immediately.

Putting his hands up softly, all Gibbs received from his wife was a point of the index finger.

"Jethro, I swear to God," she began in a stern, whispered tone, "If you wake her, I'm filing for a divorce."

Both his eyes widened yet his smile grew as he silently closed the heavy door behind him and made his way over. It wasn't long before the grey-haired man sat down on the other empty sofa nearby both his wife and adopted daughter.

"I better not wake her then…" he smirked, mirroring the same quiet tone as he briefly glanced towards the little girl and then towards Jenny, "What ya doin' on the floor, Jen?"

Shrugging her shoulders, bouncing the long red locks against the black blouse which actually highlighted the fiery colour of her hair, Jenny pushed her lips out a little.

"Comfiest spot I've found all week…" she confessed, soon smiling up at him.

Laughing silently, remembering his fourth divorce was on the cards if he woke the little girl on his right, Gibbs did his best not to roll his eyes.

"And if you had to get up in a hurry…?" he had to ask.

Quirking her eyebrow, Jenny half-smirked at her husband before looking down towards her well-hidden swollen abdomen.

"I'd be pretty screwed." she supposed, looking back up at Gibbs.

Both nodding and silently laughing at her brutal honestly, Gibbs reached for her hand and interlocking their fingers.

"I really wish you were on your maternity leave…" he confessed.

Her shoulders dropped as she sighed. "Jethro, not this again." she pleaded, "I don't know how many times we've been through this lately."

"Jenny, you're only five weeks away from your due date." he pointed out, "You should be at home with your feet up."

"My feet get plenty of rest here. The _paperwork_ makes sure of that…" she trailed off, her eyebrow firmly raised again, "Besides, MTAC goes online at three to catch Petty Officer Arvin's killer. I won't miss that for the world."

Nodding softly, Gibbs just squeezed her hand. He knew he wasn't going to get anything more so he just agreed.

It wasn't long after that conversation ended that he found himself looking towards the little girl asleep on the sofa.

"Least she's finally asleep…" he commented softly.

Shuffling slightly to lean her head against his knee, Jenny just nodded. As a comfortable silence fell over them, Gibbs leant down to kiss the top of her head, his hand soon tracing over the spot with his fingertips. As the moments passed, the silence continued, giving Gibbs ample time to recall the discussion he had with his old friend in child services the day he really had kicked his plan to adopt Rubie into action…

"_You cannot be serious!" the blonde-haired woman rolled her eyes, her smirk evident as she straightened both her blouse and grey pencil skirt, "You barely know this girl, LJ…"_

_Sat at his desk, watching the woman keen to make sure her red lips did not to advance to anything further beyond the smirk, Gibbs simply shrugged his shoulders._

"_And why does that matter?" he queried as she perched herself on the edge of his desk._

_Actually both scoffing and laughing at once, the woman shook her head._

"_Adoption is a serious matter, LJ." she pointed out, "You can't adopt this girl and then give her back when you get bored."_

_That time it was Gibbs' turn to scoff but it wasn't in annoyance as it may have appeared to an outsider listening in on their conversation. Ever since they'd in Stillwater after she moved and lived there for two years during his early teenage life, he had always had a banter-filled relationship with Winnie Heusen. The day the two of them actually didn't find ways to tease each other throughout a conversation was the day there would be a serious problem…_

"_I know that…" he confirmed, his eyebrow cocked up, "And it's Jethro, Winnie."_

_Unable to suppress her following laugh, Winnie Heusen pushed herself back up onto her feet. Steadying herself on her wedged shoes and shaking her head in the process, she turned to face her old friend, the one she hadn't seen for years and doubted she would see much of again._

"_Jethro?" she had to repeat, her laugh close to breaking through again, "Nah… you'll always be LJ to me."_

_Sighing deeply and miraculously nodding in agreement, Gibbs found himself laughing softly._

"_And you'll always be a pain in the neck, I guess." he smirked._

_Her mouth soon dropped open but the threatening smile it hard for her to maintain._

"_Cheeky bastard." she swore, only making him lift his brow._

_For a moment, the only noise came from the people around them getting on with their daily tasks. However, the silence didn't last long._

"_But in all seriousness LJ." she returned back to previous side of the conversation. After all, as a representative for the local Adoption service in the DC area, it was her job to make sure he understood just what it was he was asking to become involved in. "Adoption isn't something to be taken lightly. It's a lifelong commitment. That little girl is gonna look up to you as her father…"_

"_You're telling me things I already know, Win." he pointed out, sighing as he said so._

_Shaking her head, mostly for herself, Winnie just looked at him in what very well may as well have been blankly. She knew well enough that no matter what she said to him, it wasn't going to make absolutely any difference. Once Gibbs had set his mind on something, it was rare for anyone to convince him otherwise. He always had been like that and she seriously doubted that had changed._

"_I just…" she trailed off, pausing for a long moment, "You're serious about this, aren't you?"_

"_Why… why's it such a problem, Win?" he sighed deeply after asking._

_Winnie shook her head. "It's not… I, I just wouldn't recommend it… not so quickly." she confessed, "Foster her, perhaps. Get to know her first. Don't rush into adoption."_

_Standing up and laughing lightly to himself, Gibbs grabbed a file from his desk and began to move away from the bullpen._

"_Oh, come on, Win." he smiled while still in earshot, "Since when have I ever followed recommendations?"_

_Turning to watch where he was going, her mind actually considering his question, Winnie just nodded to herself. _"_True…"_

* * *

"Online in: 3… 2… 1…" the MTAC system technician counted down.

The seat in which Director Shepard had settled down into only minutes before was no substitute for her office floor where she had been sat nearly all afternoon. Granted, it may not have been the comfiest of looking spots to everyone else, and it was most certainly was not suitable for the Director of a Federal Agency to be seen sitting like that, but she really hadn't cared. At 35 weeks along, well into her final trimester, her comfort was more important to her than her image.

The bright light which was emitted suddenly from the large screen as MTAC came online caught most of the eyes of the present agents. The Director was no exception. By the time she opened her eyes only a second or two later once she had adapted to the light, Gibbs had appeared to her left and was currently taking his seat next to her.

She expected a greeting to be the first thing out of his mouth. That was usually what any normal person started a conversation off with but sometimes she just had to remember, Gibbs was exactly normal… he was _Gibbs._

"What are you drinkin'?" he asked suddenly, his loud voice overpowering the white noise of the other agents chatter from around her.

Her head dropped forward as her gaze fell onto her cardboard cup in her left hand, the one she held on the armrest between the pair of them.

"Oh, coffee…" she answered, looking back up at the large screen which was beginning to show live security footage of an empty hotel bar, "Don't tell Ducky."

Turning his head partially, Gibbs found himself frowning. "Why?" he had to ask.

Jenny mirrored the angle in which he had turned to meet his eyes; her eyebrows darting up to indicate to him what he was asking should have had an obvious answer.

"Really, Jethro?" she glanced down at her extended stomach mostly hidden by her blouse, "Pregnant… _coffee…_?"

"Oh…" he realised after a long moment, "You mean because _technically _you're not supposed to be drinking it?"

Jenny nodded slowly. "Ye-ah…" she drew out, just as he snatched down to grab the cup, "Hey!" she protested.

Gibbs swapped the hand he was using to hold the cup, thereby increasing the distance it was from his wife.

"Who am I to argue with Ducky?" he smiled, receiving nothing more than a large roll of the eyes before her head fell, rather hard, against the back of her chair.

"Ow…" she moaned softly.

Watching as her face creased, Gibbs laughed silently to himself. "You okay?" he queried.

"Shut up; I'm not talking to you." she stated, her eyes glued on the screen.

Shaking his head and smiling as he too turned to look towards the screen, without thinking he brought the cup to his lips and sipped the beverage, only to full-on gag the moment the liquid hit his tongue.

Amused but not allowing herself to show him that, Jenny slowly pulled herself up to sit back in the position she had been before.

"Serves you right." she mumbled, "You don't like cream and sugar."

With his eyebrow raised, Gibbs laughed slightly and simply turned his head in the opposite direction. Looking around, he saw the row behind him being filled by Agent's DiNozzo and McGee… _perfect._

"Here ya go, DiNozzo." Gibbs offered, handing the warm cup to the deeply confused, and a little worried, agent.

"I, um… thanks, Boss… I think." he stumbled through the sentence, lifting the coffee cup lid and sniffing it, "You haven't poisoned it, have you?"

Jenny watched the scene unfold before her. Granted she was rightly annoyed at the fact her coffee had been taken and was now being given away by her husband, however, from the smug look on Gibbs' face, she knew DiNozzo would soon be regretting his question.

"Come 'ere, DiNozzo." Gibbs ordered softly, gesturing for the younger agent to lean towards him, "Come on."

Pretty sure he knew what was about to happen, Tony cautiously leant forward. He really should have learnt to be more careful with his words around Gibbs…

As expected, a swift slap was delivered to the still-not-immune patch on the back of his head before Gibbs turned away and looked back towards the screen. Taking a moment to let it register, DiNozzo proceeded to take a sip of the coffee as he sat down. He would have probably said something but he knew time was running out. After all, it was only a couple of moments until three o'clock, meaning they were only moments away from catching the killer of Petty Officer Arvin.

The said woman, Samantha Arvin, had been murdered almost a fortnight beforehand at a DC nightclub. For what felt like the first time ever, the entire incident had been caught on CCTV, making the job of identifying her killer extremely easy compared to usual. However, the SOB as Gibbs had referred to him, had managed to disappear and therefore escape detection for a while but his BOLO had spotted him at a hotel in Arkansas, the exact hotel the CCTV feed on the screen was coming from.

The image of the target, Matthew Jonas, was displayed on in the left-hand top corner and in one of the other two blank rectangles on the screen; footage of the hotel bar's door at eye-level came online. That was obviously the feed from the undercover agent's broach-like pin.

"Director." one of the MTAC system controllers' acknowledged, handing her the headset.

"Thank you." she smiled, pulling the mini contraption on.

The room seemed to fall silent as she did, all the people present soon focusing on the screen. The bar itself was still empty except for one man behind wiping the tables down, but that wouldn't last long as it was moments away from opening to the hotel guests.

"Bring up the final camera." the Director ordered, understandably not bothering to stand like usual.

Within moments, the second camera feed was displayed on the screen, that one from the hotel lobby which was attached to the bar. The lobby itself was relatively quiet but there were a few noticeable people coming on camera and heading in direction of the now-open bar. However, the person the group in MTAC soon focused on was the dark-haired woman in the bottom right-hand corner of the lobby camera frame. Dressed in a tight, black leather jacket, significantly shorter skirt than usual, tights, heeled ankle boots and with her long, dark hair tied up, she certainly did appear to look like a normal young woman waiting for someone in the lobby; exactly how she needed to appear.

Stood almost directly opposite to the door of the hotel bar, leaning on the wall next to the main reception desk, the woman appeared to be tapping away on the mobile cell phone in her hands. Only the NCIS agents knew that wasn't the case.

Moments passed and it wasn't long before a middle-aged, dark-haired man appeared on the lobby camera. In dark jeans and long-sleeved shirt, he was heading towards the doors of the bar, just like NCIS' intelligence had suggested.

Upon seeing him, DiNozzo and McGee felt their bodies tense and they shared a look between each other. Meanwhile, Gibbs kept his attention solely on the screen.

"There's the bastard…" he trailed off, making Jenny briefly face him before looking back.

"Ziva, the target is entering the bar." she explained, "Get closer."

With the slightest of nods that any passer-by at the hotel wouldn't have thought anything about, Ziva slowly moved away from the wall and slammed the phone to her ear.

"What?!" she cried, "No, I told you I was gonna call later… Yeah, I did…" she voiced loudly, approaching the man from behind and easily capturing his attention, "You what?! What, what are you saying?! No, I can't hear you… the signal's crap! Look… hello? Hello?"

Violently pulling the phone from her ear, gruffly moaning in the process, Ziva sighed deeply before slamming the device against the bar she had found herself stood next to.

"Piece of crap!" she cursed, looking up to see a soft, amused smile from the man she was next to. Actually seeing him like that, gentle with rather glittery eyes, made it hard for a moment to remember he was a killer, "I am… so sorry…"

Moving closer as she apologised to Jonas, the MTAC technicians got straight to work. "Freezing image." the one explained to the group, "Matching ID."

On the screen, the image Ziva's hidden camera had picked up was being used to identify whether the man she was talking to was indeed the correct man. Gibbs, Tony and McGee had no doubt he wasn't but before they took him down, they had to make sure… _for legal reasons._

"ID match confirmed." the technician reported.

"Proceed, Agent David." the Director ordered.

Keenly watching, the silent room intensely followed the movements of Agent David and the confirmed killer as she somehow persuaded him to follow her out of the bar into the vaguely empty lobby.

"The signal is no good out here either." Ziva laughed lightly, acting annoyed at the new phone she was holding, "Even on _your_ phone."

Smiling lightly at the young, ditsy-acting, woman, Jonas simply shook his head.

"Why don't you use the hotel phone?" he suggested, closing the distance between them as she turned towards the main reception desk, "And while you're at it," he whispered a lot colder into her ear, "Why don't you also tell me who you work for?"

Gibbs and Jenny immediately shared a worried glance, Jenny's earlier statement of not talking to him long forgotten…

Trying to think of the best option in order to get out of the situation, Ziva laughed slightly, her Mossad-training deeply in her thoughts. She supposed that being in America and not Israel meant just turning and killing him wasn't an option so she decided it best to continue to appear ditsy. Perhaps she could still talk her way out of it until she was in a better, tactical position.

Turning her head to face him with a confused frown engraved on her face, Ziva slowly shook her head.

"What?" she lied convincingly, "W-What do you mean?"

"Who do you work for?" he asked again, forcing her closer towards the wall by only stepping forward once, "Tell me."

The moment he tightly gripped both of her arms, Ziva knew their exchange wasn't going to end by just talking.

"I suggest you let go." she advised, her calm demeanour showing no sign of changing.

"Or what?" Jonas questioned, clearly trying to intimidate her.

Cocking her head to the one side, she briefly considered it before twisting both of his arms around and pushing away from him. It wasn't long after that her hand struck the bottom of his jaw, sending him backwards into the middle of the room. Like expected, Jonas didn't let that stop him and the pair soon ended up in a brawl, Ziva with the upper hand for the majority of the time. Blows to her abdomen and face were felt but despite the fact she knew the onlookers gathering around would have probably screamed out in pain at each one, she had felt worse. That was where her training back in Israel came in handy.

Finally managing to twist both of his arms unnaturally around behind his back, Ziva shoved him up against the reception main desk, causing him to cry out in pain, surprise and more than likely frustration that she had overpowered him. Proceeding to retrieve as pair of concealed handcuffs, Ziva then secured them tightly around his wrists. Ignoring the drop of blood rolling down her cheek like a tear, Ziva sighed before leaning down to his ear.

"You are under the arrest for the murder of Petty Officer Samantha Arvin…" she began to recite.

The moment she forcefully pulled Jonas away from the main reception desk and began to head towards the hotel exit, a loud applause erupted through her earwig from the agents back in DC. A number of congratulations also made their way down the line but none were as greatly appreciated as the following one from her boss.

"Nice one, Ziva." Gibbs spoke directly down the microphone of the headset the Director had been wearing as he stood up, "Good work."

It wasn't long after that the camera links to the hotel security cameras shut off, leaving only the feed from Ziva's broach still playing. As the seconds passed, the people in the room slowly began to file out; satisfied one of only a few killers to escape from the grasp of NCIS was now in their custody.

With a proud smile evident on his face, Gibbs slowly turned back to face his wife still sat contently in the supposedly comfortable chair.

"You gonna talk to me now?" he wondered.

Shrugging her shoulders, aware the only four people left in MTAC were the pair of them, DiNozzo and McGee, Jenny sighed softly.

"Depends." she confessed, lightly rubbing the top of her tender stomach.

The one corner of his mouth twitched up and his eyebrows slowly slid up his forehead.

"On what?" he asked, genuinely curious.

Letting out a slightly frustrated sigh, Jenny's lips thinned and pulled into a straight line.

"Can… can you help me up?"


	10. That sounds like one of your rules

Chapter 10: "That sound's like one of your rules…"

Nightfall had long fallen over DC, the ambient darkness highlighting the array of colour coming from all the lights the area had to offer. NCIS Headquarters was no different. Slightly different shades of the same light or very similar coloured light gently escaped out of the large number of windows dotted across the bricked building, all drowned out by the darkness settled across the district.

Giggling merrily as she near-enough skipped down the path towards the entrance to the quiet building, Agent Timothy McGee close behind, Abby Sciuto made sure that her ID card which allowed her entrance was firmly clutched in her palm. Her little drama from earlier that day was something she was certainly _not _keen to repeat.

Sharing a quick glance at the Security Guard on duty, Henry whom she had seen there earlier, she effortlessly swiped her card through the card reader on her left. Sighing happily, sharing the silent, inside joke with the bald-headed man, Abby turned on her heels to see McGee also enter with the same ease. Although she was happy, mostly because the pair of them had just spent the majority of the afternoon chilling out in each others company after grabbing lunch, part of her was a little disappointed. _Was it wrong for part of her to have wished that he had had some sort of problem like she had had earlier that day?_

Quickly glancing at his watch, both Tim and Abby noticed Henry's confusion as he watched them in.

"Could've sworn you two went home for the day…" he stated, his confusion apparent, "What the heck ya come back for? It's almost ten o'clock…"

Still smiling from one of McGee's earlier jokes which was playing out on a repetitive cycle in her brain, it took Abby a little longer to process his question and therefore answer. However, managing to compose herself quickly enough, she soon ran her hand through her hair when she turned around to face him.

"We came back to see Ziva." she explained softly, "Is she back yet?"

Henry shook his head. "No, not yet." he answered, "Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo must be doing the same thing. I haven't seen either of them leave yet."

McGee's face immediately fell. "Tony's still here?" he had to ask, "He told me he was gonna join us for lunch… I assumed he'd just gone home."

Henry shook his head. "He hasn't gone out at all." he told the pair, "I only saw him this mornin', that's it."

"Thanks Henry…" McGee trailed off, allowing Abby to say a brief goodbye before beginning to head down the corridor towards the lift.

As they walked, the slightly taller male Agent leant closer to the Forensic Scientist on his right.

"What on earth's Tony doing?" he whispered, "I can't imagine him actually doing work for the past seven hours when Gibbs near enough said we could go…"

Abby shrugged her shoulders, pressing the elevator button as they reached the desired metal box.

"Maybe Henry just didn't see him." Abby suggested.

"Abbs, he's been on duty all day." McGee argued back lightly, "He sees everyone who comes in and leaves…"

Abby laughed slightly and automatically rolled her eyes as the elevator doors opened.

"Oh Timmy, stop stressing." she ordered softly as she entered the elevator with him on her heels, "You're looking way too much into this…"

* * *

On the third floor up, Gibbs was surrounded by an almost empty bullpen. By only a handful of agents including himself, the only sounds to be heard were the tapping away at keyboards and Gibbs' pen dragging harshly across the desk through the paper he was unmercifully scribbling away on.

After overseeing Jonas' arrest, the ample amount of paperwork on the case had been the only work Gibbs had managed to complete, nowhere near as much as he had hoped in such a long amount of time. He'd actually been hoping that he could have got more done yet also managed to go home a little earlier than usual, mostly to get Jenny home where he could make sure she actually did take it easy, however, fate had seemed to have other ideas.

Signing yet another piece of paper covered with tiny black words he was actually struggling to see even with his glasses, Gibbs' hand seemed to actually repel from following the pattern his signature made. He'd had to do it so many times that afternoon it actually should have been illegal…

Dropping his pen roughly before rubbing his creased forehead, a movement he definitely wouldn't have done in the company of the others, Gibbs sighed rather loudly. Since he was so fed up, he actually welcomed the distraction of the forward elevator pinging as it came to a stop on the floor and opened.

Seeing both Abby and McGee step out, the pair in deep conversation about DiNozzo, Gibbs felt his strained forehead drop.

"Hi Gibbs." Abby smiled as she skipped over, cutting McGee off mid-sentence, "What you doing?"

Sighing softly, Gibbs leant back on his chair, his spine actually grateful for the movement.

"Paperwork…" he answered softly, glancing over at McGee who was now heading over, "What are you two doin' here?"

Abby briefly looked over at Ziva's empty desk. "We came to see Ziva." she sighed, "But she's not back yet…"

While Abby had taken a moment to look at Ziva's empty desk, McGee had found himself glancing over at Tony's which too was empty. The stacks of files from earlier that morning were still in the exact same place, along with the cell phone he had had to leave before going into MTAC at three o'clock that afternoon. Due to that, Tim honestly believed that nothing had changed from the moment Tony had left it at that time…

Glancing around the empty bullpen, expecting the said agent to appear at any moment, McGee soon caught the attention of Gibbs.

"Lost something, McGee?" he queried, his eyebrows raised.

Swiftly turning at Gibbs' voice, McGee automatically shook his head.

"No… but Boss," he began unsurely, "Where's Tony?"

The slight smirk on Gibbs' lips dropped harshly the moment McGee's question was out of his mouth; his features softening as he audibly sighed.

"He's in MTAC." he might as well have whispered, "Been in there most of the afternoon."

Abby, who had been silently listening to the two men in the room, soon felt her forehead crease.

"Why?" she found herself blurting out, momentarily glancing up at MTAC on the floor above.

Smiling weakly up at the forensic scientist, Gibbs just sighed before slowly turning to look over at an equally confused Agent McGee.

"It's been seven months today, McGee…" Gibbs trailed off; the only words McGee needed to hear before everything made sense.

Feeling his heart shudder slightly, McGee nodded slowly. However, Abby remained just as confused, if not more so than before…

"Since what?" she had to ask, doing her utmost best to dig through her memories. However, since getting six months back landed her back in hospital for the majority of the time, she really did struggle trying to understand what they were on about.

"Well… now I get why's he's been so _low _today…" McGee reasoned, mostly to himself but loud enough for Gibbs to gently agree.

"Seven months since what…?" Abby tried again, pretty sure neither Gibbs nor McGee were paying much attention to her.

The ping from the rear elevator is what caught the attention of the trio only a moment later, a sound which was soon followed by the strong scent of coffee filling the room. All three of them turned in sync to see who was approaching, the younger two in response to the elevator ping but Gibbs in response to the coffee. In only a few seconds, he was already desperate for the cup due to the smell.

"Duck, you're a lifesaver!" he exclaimed, gladly suffering a minor burn from the cup as he accepted it.

Briefly acknowledging the others, Ducky came to a stop just in front of Gibbs' desk.

"I've just spoken to Henry. Agent Mulcahey has returned with Jonas." he informed to older agent who just nodded softly.

Abby looked between Gibbs and Ducky, part of her even more confused as to why neither of them were not even asking about Ziva. Surely if the guilty party and the agent who had accompanied her on the assignment were back, surely she should have been too… so why wasn't she?

"And… _where's Ziva?_" she stressed.

Allowing a silent moment to pass, Gibbs sipped a drop of the needed coffee before sighing to himself.

"I have a pretty good idea…" he whispered, something the other two men in the bullpen seemed to agree with… and then there was Abby.

* * *

Tony hadn't moved from the same spot for hours. To be fair, even if he had wanted to, it wouldn't have been possible since being sat in the same, hard, uncomfortable chair for all that time without so much as a bathroom break and therefore no walking about had certainly killed his legs. The two extremities were so numb that he was pretty sure that if something came and actually sliced them open, he wouldn't feel it…

Leaning his chin unmercifully on his hand, that also tingling in a way he knew his legs would when he finally moved; Tony continued to watch the video feed coming from the badge on Ziva's jacket, the one he had been watching all day. He knew most people would class it as spying but as she actually knew he was watching since they'd been communication throughout the afternoon, he didn't really care.

When the car which had been escorting her, Agent Mulcahey and Matthew Jonas back to NCIS had been about ten minutes away from HQ, Tony had seen her have the car stopped where she had gotten out. Mulcahey had certainly been confused about her departure, but he wasn't… not at all…

Sighing to himself as he saw her come to a stop, barely a metre away from a large, square headstone, Tony somehow managed to swing his numb legs around in order to reach the headset which had fallen off his lap a long time beforehand.

Snapping it on, feeling the blood rush painfully through his legs, Tony leant back onto the backrest of his seat.

"Knew you'd go and see her…" he whispered, something he doubted was quiet to her considering the earwig was deep in her ear.

Turning her head slightly, Ziva managed to wipe an escaped tear, glad the camera on her chest actually didn't show her face.

"You're still there…" she realised slowly, internally grateful although she'd never admit that to anyone other than herself, "You shouldn't be, Tony…"

"Why?" he asked softly, wanting nothing more than to be physically with her. He knew exactly how down she would have been feeling at that moment.

"I do not want you watching me…" she trailed off, aware her voice was starting to loose its power.

"If that was the case, you'd have disconnected a long time ago…" he pointed out softly.

Sighing shakily, Ziva cried out a little. "I hate it when you're right…" she barely spoke, her usual pride of admitting Tony was right about something long forgotten.

"Ziva…" Tony tried to help; aware her strong emotions were once again overtaking her.

Slowly turning her head, Ziva – and the camera – both ended up facing the headstone.

"She shouldn't be dead, Tony…" she whispered, her trembling fingers loosely tracing over every letter of the late woman's name: Gabrielle Lydia Antalari.

"Ziva." repeated Tony, his voice a little sterner that time, "I've said it before and I'll say it again, it wasn't _your _fault…"

"But it still feels like it, Tony." she confessed, her voice struggling to remain unbroken, "I-I can still see her face… _her eyes…_"

Pausing for a brief moment, Tony ignored the pain in his legs and sighed softly.

"What about her smile?" he suggesting, doing his best to help her despite the fact it was via video link, "Her laugh, her attitude… all those things which made her Gabby?"

Breathing in deeply, Ziva found herself laughing softly. "_Those_ glasses…" she whispered, remembering the said woman's classic flick when she tapped the black-rimmed glasses up the arch of her nose.

Giving her a moment with her memories, and a moment for the blood rushing to his toes to stop stinging, Tony smiled to himself.

"Ziva, come back to NCIS." he requested softly.

Shaking her head slowly, Ziva waved her hands in front of both herself and the camera.

"No, no…" she quietly objected, "No, I am just going to go home."

"No, you're coming to NCIS." Tony put forward, "I don't want you on your own tonight… besides; the others are more than likely waiting to see you."

Slowly turning, aware the coolness of the night was beginning to flood the air around, Ziva briefly bit into her lip.

"Do… do they know I'm here?" she questioned, referring to the cemetery, "The others?"

"No." Tony answered to the best of his knowledge.

"You won't tell them?" she asked him, making his heart go out to her slightly, amazed had embarrassed the young woman felt about appearing weak.

"No." he swore, "I promise…"

Sighing loudly, Ziva slowly nodded. "Okay." she agreed, "See you in a few minutes."

* * *

With McGee and Abby happily chattering away on the other side of the bullpen, aware the room was now empty barring the four of them, Gibbs had no problem silently giving up on his work and choosing to talk to Ducky instead. Due to that, it wasn't long before the pair of them found themselves discussing one particular red-head upstairs.

"I just don't think she should be working so much, Jethro." Ducky continued, stressing the same point he had been for the majority of the conversation.

"Duck, I know." Gibbs promised, stressing his voice equally, "But this is Jen were talkin' about… she's not really one for playin' by the rules, even if it is for her own good."

Ducky sighed harshly. "But Jethro, it's not just _her _she needs to think about now…" his voice dropping massively in volume.

Gibbs nodded slowly, agreeing with all the words which he was soaking up like a sponge. What his old friend was drilling into him was nothing he hadn't heard before.

"Well, she won't listen to me." Gibbs confessed, subconsciously tensing his folded arms, "Maybe if _you _tried…"

Hopping down the stairs from MTAC, glad to once again feel his legs, DiNozzo's eyes scanned over the quiet squad room. Smiling softly to himself, he noted that the rest of the team also seemed to be waiting for Ziva… the only absent member was the Director.

It actually made him a laugh a little how both pairs, Gibbs and Ducky and then McGee and Abby, seemed to be mirroring each other across the bullpen, something he doubted was intentional. Both Gibbs and McGee were leaning back on their chairs, each with the arms lightly folded, and their respective partners, Ducky and Abby, were both leaning against their desks, casting a dark shadow over the middle of the floor due to the dim light illuminating the section of the room.

"Ziva'll be here in ten." Tony's voice cut through the quiet squad room, capturing the attention of the four of them as he swung around his desk, narrowly missing the sharp corner against his thigh.

Sighing softly as the agent took a seat at the furthest desk to his; Gibbs pushed himself up to straighten his back and sit up straight. Despite the fact the young man had a soft smile sat on his lips; he could see the marks where the creases had been not too long beforehand. DiNozzo may have annoyed him usually on a daily basis but he really did hate seeing the said man looking so pained…

"Tony…?" he asked gently, easily capturing his attention, "You okay?"

Aware Gibbs could more than likely see the signs of his recently red eyes, Tony just nodded softly.

"I am now…" he admitted in a whisper, "One of those days, Boss…"

Feeling her forehead crease again as Tony just let his head drop as he attempted to futilely make himself look busy; Abby slowly turned her head to face McGee.

"Tim… what is going on?" she asked silently, a small part of her afraid she'd look stupid if she spoke any louder.

Despite the fact her voice was so quiet, since the squad room was near enough silent; Tony heard her question as easily as Tim, and the others, had.

"Oh Abby, I forgot you didn't really know her…" Tony apologised, quickly looking up and over towards the confused Goth, "It's been seven months today since Gabby died… the woman who took over from you while you were ill."

Feeling the weight of the knowledge flood through her blood, Abby exhaled deeply. _Now everything made sense… _She may not have personally known the woman but she had definitely remembered how bad her death had affected Ziva. She had _never_ seen her like that before…

"Oh…" she realised, her eyes widening and yet softening a little, "I'm sorry, Tony."

Shaking his head as he tapped the pile of files against his desk to straighten them up, DiNozzo smiled weakly to himself.

"No need to be sorry, Abby." he promised, "She's gone… Nothing we can do about it."

Not really sure how to respond, Abby welcomed the distraction the moment the front elevator stopped on their floor and allowed the ex-Mossad officer they had been waiting for to exit.

Smiling widely, Abby was soon off the table and sprinting towards the Israeli woman in the time it took Gibbs, Ducky and McGee to rise to their feet.

"Ziva!" exclaimed Abby, her arms tightly encompassing the rather taken off-guard woman. However, in hindsight, she really should have expected it, but considering they all had almost lost Abby due to the cancer she had had, the one she had recently been given the initial all-clear to, she couldn't have been happier. During the times of her treatment, Ziva would have given anything for one of Abby's energetic, rough hugs.

"Abby…" she trailed off, quickly treasuring the gesture before she pulled away.

Lifting her head a little further, a small smile stuck on her lips, Ziva's eyes glued onto her Boss'. The moment they did, Gibbs sighed contently, nodding slightly at her.

"You alright, Ziva?" he asked softly.

Nodding adamantly, Ziva looked between the five pairs of eyes all looking in her direction.

"I am fine." she confirmed, "What… are you all doing here? Why aren't you at home?"

"We wanted to see you… make sure you're okay." Abby's words flowed off her tongue as easily as air entered and escaped each of her lungs, "That's what friends are for…"

Ziva felt her heart tremble slightly. It was amazing how such small, simple gestures like those from the team made her feel inside. It was certainly something she had never experienced back in Israel when she grew up.

"I am fine." she repeated, her smile a little more defined as she spoke.

"Fine or not," Ducky began, his thick Scottish accent heavy in her ears, "I'm checking out those cuts before you go home."

Involuntarily moaning, a bad habit she seemed to have picked up from Tony, Ziva futilely shook her head.

"Ducky, I am okay." she swore.

The cuts to her forehead from one of Jonas' blows were absolutely nothing. She'd certainly experienced much worse before. After all, it wasn't like they were still bleeding; they'd scabbed over a long time ago…

"Ziva…" Gibbs warned lightly, the expression he wore adamant that she wasn't getting out of it.

Silently laughing, Ducky began to move towards the rear elevator, gesturing for her to follow him with a swift double flick of the hand.

"Come on." he smiled softly.

All Ducky did was take a single step, a step in sync with Ziva following, when he could no longer see a thing. Then again, neither could any of the others. In that moment, unexpectedly fast, every light in the squad room had cut out. Each electrical appliance from the computers to the digital clocks all copied, all swiftly dying and creating a deep, eerie darkness which fell upon the entire NCIS building.

For a moment, nobody's eyes could pick up anything, not even the outline of anything or anyone nearby, so sensibly they remained exactly where they were. The blackout, being so sudden, had caught everyone off guard and therefore caused a secondary reaction: silence. No-one even seemed to even be breathing loudly in fear of something unbeknown to each of them. For some reason, the human instinct to fear the dark seemed very strong for each and every one of them at that moment.

A long moment passed before anyone dared to move, giving each one of their eyes ample time to adjust to the newly darkened surroundings.

Being able to make out the outline of his desk, partly from vision but mostly from his memory, DiNozzo cautiously made his away from around his desk, especially careful to watch his step. He certainly didn't want to find anything to trip over with it being so dark.

Since the only light was coming from the natural darkness outside, even though it was dim, it actually allowed all of the others to see DiNozzo's figure head towards the window much easier than it was to see anything else.

Peering out of the window, actually physically unable to see anything of the city other than the weak outline against the dark sky, Tony sighed loudly.

"Looks like all of DC is dark." he informed the group, his loud voice cutting through the silence and actually making Abby jump.

Turning away from Tony and looking in the direction of the others, Ziva softly shook her head.

"The roads will be closed off…" she surmised.

Effortlessly reaching for his draw, Gibbs soon retrieved and handed out a number of large torches, wandering between the group almost as if he could see. He supposed his keen investigative and memory skills made being able to that second nature to the older agent.

No sooner had the devices been distributed, beams of bright, white light soon began to shine from each of them.

"Set them up towards the middle." Gibbs might as well have ordered, each person doing it without hesitation, expertly balancing them on something in the bullpen which made them converge on the now pretty-well lit spot in the centre.

Gibbs was the only one who didn't actually assist in creating the little circle of light. His attention was focused more on the doorway on the upper floor, somewhere he soon began to head towards.

"Back in a moment." he promised, leaving the others in the lit bullpen.

Grabbing his chair from his desk and wheeling it towards the light, like a big kid, Tony near enough bounced down onto it, his face splitting by a large grin.

"Why are you… so happy?" Ziva asked, also getting her chair and bringing it over, "We could be here all night…"

"It's like our old campfires!" he boomed, "_Campfire!_"

Tim, who was already on his chair near to his desk, rolled his eyes at the memory before finding his two thighs becoming the seat of one Miss Abigail Sciuto… not that he minded.

"Tony, I swear if you say that again…" Ziva began to moan to the amusement of the other three, something Gibbs probably would have shared if he hadn't already been at his wife's office door.

Just like every other section of the building and probably many other buildings in the district, the Director's office was just as dark as the bullpen had been.

Slowly opening the door, curious as to why there was no sound, Gibbs soon popped his head inside. The loud gasp which came from the little girl directly opposite made him smile softly as he quietly made his way over, pretty soon aware of his sleeping wife lying on the sofa.

"Hey you…" Gibbs whispered softly, immediately getting pounced on by the little girl as soon as he reached the sofa area.

Chuckling quietly as he wrapped his arms loosely around her, Gibbs softly fell back onto the seat behind before pulling her onto his lap.

"What happened to the lights?" she asked softly, cuddling down further into his chest but resting her chin so she was looking up at him.

"It's just a power cut." he assured her softly, "Nothing to worry about."

Actually trembling as she briefly tried to look around, only to be stopped by the darkness, Rubie shook her head and buried her face briefly into his shirt.

"I don't like it…" she confessed, gladly accepting the tightening of his embrace, "I don't like the dark…"

Sighing softly, Gibbs lightly kissed her hairline.

"The dark won't hurt you, Rubie." he promised, "You don't need to be scared of it."

Still shaking her head, the little girl's hands tightly gripped around Gibbs' arm, actually amazing him just how tight her grip could be for someone so young. For a moment, he just continued to cuddle her, aware her trembling was beginning to cease.

"Gibbs, do… do you think my Mommy's in the dark?" she asked him after a moment, "Watching over me? Keeping me safe?"

In the dim glow of the torch in is free hand, Rubie watched her adoptive father smile softly down at her.

"Um… yeah…" he nodded softly, "So that's not scary at all then, is it? The dark? Not if Mommy's there watching over you?"

Shaking her head to agree, the little girl mirrored his smile.

"Do you think she'll watch over the baby too? Keep us _both_ safe after its born?" she asked him.

On the other sofa to the talking pair, Jenny lay listening to the softly spoken conversation. She hadn't intended to sleep for so long that afternoon but she honestly hadn't realised how much she had needed it. However, from the moment Jethro had come up and begun talking to Rubie, sleeping had been out of the question, and not only just because of her husband and little girl talking to one other nearby…

"Yeah… why not?" Gibbs smiled to the little girl on his lap.

"Jethro…" the pair of them heard the supposedly sleeping woman breathe loudly.

Turning at the sound of her voice, Gibbs smiled as she lightly opened her eyes.

"You're awake." he stated the obvious, "Ya know, I wouldn't bother getting' up… we could be here all night with the blackout. Everyone's downstairs in the bullpen and…"

Breathing a little louder, Jenny roughly shook her head against the seat and briefly bit into her lip.

"Jethro, shut up…" she insisted, immediately both capturing the attention and concerning the man.

Lifting Rubie off his lap and standing her on the floor, Gibbs scooted to the edge of the chair to be closer to his wife, the wife who in the torchlight looked very pale and was certainly breathing heavier than usual.

"Jen…?" he voiced.

"Can you get Ducky… please?" she tried to stay calm, mostly so she didn't concern the little girl in her company.

Immediately more alert, Gibbs quickly used the light in his hand to briefly glance over her body. She was certainly remaining exceptionally calm but by the way her hand was clutching around her swollen stomach and jaw was clenching as she tried to speak, he was pretty sure something wasn't right… and part of him was pretty sure he knew what.

"C'mon Rubie…" Gibbs soon began to gently usher to the door, "Let's go see the others downstairs."

Letting her feet subconsciously move in the direction he was leading her; Rubie's eyes didn't leave Jenny. Despite the fact she was smiling gently over at her, both her and Gibbs' behaviour was indicated something wasn't right… and that was worrying her.

"Why? What's wrong?" she asked, passing through the door out of her adoptive mother's office.

"Nothing." Gibbs promised, ending up on the catwalk overlooking the group in the squad room.

Upon his appearance, the low-level of noise coming from the group's chattering stopped almost as suddenly as the lights had not too long beforehand. Quickly sharing an exchange with the little girl, mainly consisting of a few words and soft kiss on the top of her head, Gibbs looked down between each silent member of his team.

"You guys alright to watch Rubie for a bit?" he asked, slowly directing the little girl down the stairs while remaining where he was on the catwalk.

Briefly looking between each other, it was Abby who decided best to speak on everyone's behalf.

"Sure Gibbs… why'd you ask?" she queried, his question something she doubted she was the only one who didn't understand.

Shaking his head softly, Gibbs immediately focused his attention on the only doctor sitting in the little circle, the one who sat up a little straighter upon him doing so.

"Duck, can you come upstairs please…?" he requested, the minor concern in his voice easily noticeable to the older man.

Wasting no time, Ducky headed towards the stairs and actually reached them the moment Rubie managed to hop off the final one. Gibbs knew she was concerned, and more than likely tired, but he was glad she easily settled into an Abby-initiated game of charades by the time Ducky had reached the top step.

"What's the problem, Jethro?" he had to ask, on Gibbs' heel as they headed towards the Director's open office.

Turning briefly as the pair walked, just about seeing Ducky's features in the extremely dim light, Gibbs sighed.

"I think Jen's in labour…" he confessed.

* * *

Nightfall had long passed over DC, the morning glare from the rising sun giving the district the needed touch of light it had been deprived of for a good fraction of the night. With the power back on, a good seven hours later, the area was now preparing for the awaited morning traffic destined to fill the streets as soon as the time came. By the time the sun would be high above the city, the blackout would only be a distant memory, a memory soon forgotten by the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Since a majority of the citizens hit by the power outage would more than likely have just decided to sleep through it, the night would have just been like any other night. The only thing they probably would have had to deal with the following morning would have been resetting the appliances affected by the power cut, perhaps some clocks and computers systems, but nothing major. However, for a select few people in the federal building known as the NCIS Headquarters, the night was nothing if not life changing…

Hospital beds had never been the comfiest of things to lie on, that was something Jenny had always believed. Although, when she had been exceptionally tired when in a hospital, they weren't particularly that bad. However, no matter how tired she felt at that moment, she doubted any bed would have allowed her to fall asleep, not even her own at home.

Honestly, how could her doctor expect her to rest easily? It may have been six o'clock in the morning and she may have not slept a wink the past night but there was no way in hell her body was going to let her sleep… not until she knew anything.

With her equally as worried husband's hand tightly gripping hers, the pair sat in an eerie silence, both their minds one hundred percent focused on the little baby both of them hadn't seen for three hours since arriving at the local hospital via ambulance.

The only thing Jenny could clearly remember about the moments of her baby's lengthy birth was the fact that she'd heard a cry, a loud, healthy cry the moment Ducky had delivered the tiny baby on her office floor. With that sound, all the pain she had felt had been worth it, all the embarrassment she had felt about going into labour in her office had disappeared. That cry meant had meant one thing: her baby was alive… despite being five weeks premature.

The three hours had felt like an eternity, a fact that felt like a cliché for Jenny to think but it couldn't have been more honest. Each second had seemed to be the length of an hour so by the time the doctor finally made an appearance, Jenny had to full-on stop herself crying out.

Gibbs felt the tension in her arms the moment the doctor appeared, however, he also felt it fade the moment the doctor smiled softly towards the pair of them. That simple gesture was more than enough.

"She's fine." the doctor smiled, slowly walking towards the relaxing couple, "Her lungs and heart are fine, she's a healthy colour, good weight… she's absolutely fine."

Releasing one of the deepest sighs she ever had, Jenny found her lips instinctively curling up into a large grin, something she doubted she'd be able to stop.

"There're… there're no problems?" she had to confirm, just needing to hear it said one more time.

"None." he repeated, slowly turning to face the door the moment a female nurse appeared, carrying the tiny little baby in her arms.

Jenny felt her smile grow to what she had thought to be an impossible size the moment the kind-faced nurse walked around to the left side of her bed. It was then that she properly held her baby girl for the first time, that moment being the same moment Gibbs felt himself release a similar sigh to hers as his eyes glue to his daughter. Seeing her cleaned up and tightly wrapped up in a cream blanket made her look very different to how she had been a few hours beforehand when Ducky had delivered her. Even when he had held her then, crying away in his arms, she hadn't seemed as small and delicate as she did now.

"Congratulations Mr and Mrs Gibbs." the nurse smiled, glancing between the two of them who were both already smitten with their little girl, "We'll both leave you be for a bit…"

Neither Gibbs nor Jenny really noticed how long it took for the doctor and nurse to leave; the baby Jenny was cradling was all they really were paying attention to. With round, rosy cheeks and delicate little hands moving against the loose blanket wrapped around her tiny body, the little girl had already captured a large part of both of her older parents' hearts.

"She's so small…" Jenny commented after a moment, briefly aware of Gibbs sitting down on the bed beside her to get a better view of his little girl.

"Yeah." he agreed, reaching out to one of her hands, "And she's ours…"

Jenny nodded; finding her eyes watering as she gently rubbed the little baby's cheek with the back of her index finger.

"You know… I thought I'd know what to call her the moment I saw her…" Jenny confessed, the emotion swarming through her making it hard a hard task for her voice to be much louder than a whisper, "But… I-I just haven't got a clue…"

Leaning down partly to rest his chin lightly on her shoulder, Gibbs smiled softly as the baby lightly curled her hand around his finger.

"Well…" he whispered, his speech slow, "What about… Lydia?"

Jenny turned her head, just enough to face her husband. "Lydia?" she repeated.

Gently shrugging his shoulders, Gibbs once again glanced down at the newborn infant lying in her mother's arms.

"Gabby's middle name…" he told her softly.

Jenny felt her smile momentarily morph into a sad smile.

"Why… why Lydia?" Jenny found herself asking, "Why not Gabby?"

Gibbs softly shook his head, his eyes watching the little girl in his wife's arms who was tightening her grip around his finger.

"_Gabby…_ is a bit close to home." he confessed, "Besides, she doesn't _look_ like a Gabby… she looks like a Lydia."

Laughing softly, Jenny turned back to look down at the baby, her messy hair brushing Gibbs' face as she considered his suggestion.

"Lydia… _Abigail_ Gibbs." she extended slowly, smiling as she finished and once again turned to meet his eyes, "That work for you?"

Smiling equally as much, Gibbs nodded softly. "Think Abby'll like it." he confessed, his constant, soft smile growing a little larger, "I _know_ I do…"

Allowing a moment to pass where the pair just turned to look back at their daughter, it gave Gibbs the opportunity to start a slightly new conversation.

"I… I know it hasn't been the easiest…" he began to say, immediately making Jenny turn to face him, "But I'm glad we've got through everything… together."

"What are you on about?" Jenny had to ask, her forehead slightly creased.

"What I put you through when Abby was ill…" Gibbs trailed off, making Jenny's heart pound a little harder in her chest.

It deeply hurt her inside that he was still angry with himself over something which happened over six months ago. _It was in the past now…_

"Jethro… it _doesn't_ matter." she insisted, leaning her forehead closer to his so they were touching, "Besides, I know why you did it."

"You do what you have to do for family." Gibbs stated, making Jenny look directly into his glistening eyes, "And I know I went about it all wrong, but they're the kinds of things you do for people you care about."

Jenny found herself sighing softly. "That sounds like one of your rules…" Jenny confessed, a smile once again toying at the edges of her lips.

"It is." he confirmed simply, "One Mike taught me before he died."

Jenny raised her eyebrows against his skin, the usual guilt she felt over Mike's death unable to break through the happiness bubbling through her body.

"Then how come I've never heard it?" she asked him softly, "I thought I'd leant all your rules? What number's this one?"

"It's not numbered. Its the _Unspoken Rule…_ the one so important it doesn't need to be written down to be remembered." he promised, leaning down to her lips to capture them in a sweet, short kiss, "I love you, Jen."

"Love you more." she whispered, their foreheads touching, something which quickly ended upon hearing the hospital room door open.

"Gibbs? Jenny?" a quiet, innocent voice echoed softly through the room.

Both turned their heads in sync and let their smiles increase the moment they saw Ducky help Rubie enter the room.

"Hey you." Gibbs greeted, holding his hand out to her to encourage her over, "Come meet your little sister."

Slowly walking over, both trying to stay quiet but also trying to see the baby's face, Rubie was soon assisted off the floor and onto Gibbs' lap.

"Rubie… this is Lydia." Jenny smiled softly, leaning down to kiss her hair before lowering the baby a little so she could see.

"Wow…" Rubie smiled, "She's so small…"

Sighing contently from the doorway, quietly watching the glowing family of four for a few moments, Ducky couldn't help but feel a deep sense of happiness for each one of them. Excluding the most recent addition, they all had been through a lot over the past year so he for one was extremely glad to see them all happy in the way they deserved. Much like the NCIS team, they were a family and that was never going to change…

* * *

**For the final time, I want to say a massive thank you for all of your continued support. I really hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it.**

**All the best until the next time, xxxdolphinmelodyxxx**


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